It is common in the US to have an Oscar Party. Friends get together to see who wins what and who wears what. We had our own Oscar party, here in KL. In order to watch it live, however, we got together at at 9:00 am Monday morning!
Side note: I have lived out of the US for 2 1/2 years, longer than the other ladies. Let's just say, they had to explain some of the jokes to me. And who some of the celebrities were.
Our 'Hostess with the Mostest', Peg! Cutting her yummy quiche. I am not sure that she volunteered to have us all over. I think she mentioned that she was going to get to watch the Oscars live and the rest of us just sort of invited ourselves. But we did bring food!
Allison's veggie tray was a work of art!
Allison, me and Brenda. Some people get all dressed up for Oscar parties, but we were lucky just to change out of our pajamas. Not pictured: Mary Ellen and her father-in-law Charlie. Because they were late. :)
I brought champagne.
And muffins. These are my very favorite muffin mix muffins-- Betty Crocker's Lemon-Poppy Seed muffins. I bought five boxes when I saw them at Ampang Grocers in KL and have not found them again since. This was my last box. I saved it for a special occasion.
It seems like every time we want to watch a movie, we can never think of what to see. So I made a list of the ones that sounded interesting. I may be the only person who has not seen Guardians of the Galaxy. And I had not really heard of several of the movies nominated for Best Picture. No real American TV means no movie commercials.
A fun time was had by all!
Gratuitous grand baby picture. Braving the winter in New York City!
Ridiculous Reality of Expat Life #2: My grand baby lives 25 hours of flying time away! This is by far, the single hardest thing about being an expat.
Back to TV watching. I have been asked what kind of TV shows I get. I am subscribed to two different cable companies. Hypp and Astro. Hypp cable came free with the internet service we ordered. I was looking for a bigger selection of English shows. I can probably appreciate Walker, Texas Ranger more than most, but I needed more. So I subscribed to Astro, so we could get TLC (for Savannah) and The Food Network (for the rest of us). It turns out the FN is an HD channel, and in my particular condo building, HD only comes with a certain internet provider. Which was not ours. Oh well. On Astro, I can watch American Idol the day after the US does. And The Voice is available. Peg watches Blacklist and The Good Wife, both the current season. Some TV series are available, but they are old seasons. The Oscars were on Astro, on the HBO channel.
Besides the several cable company options in KL, there are other ways to watch American TV and movies. Peg uses http://www.ustvnow.com. It is a way to watch live TV from the US. But of course, we are 13 hours ahead, so that can be an issue. There is the sling box, which hooks up to a cable subscription in the US. You can get a VPN (virtual private network) in order to access Netflix in KL. There is Apple TV, and other devices like Roku. Just don't expect any actual technical information from me. That is why I have teenagers.
I need to finish up this blog post so I can get back to spring-break vacation planning. I better add one of The Lord of the Rings movies to my list of movies to watch. Spring break destination? New Zealand!!
Back to TV watching. I have been asked what kind of TV shows I get. I am subscribed to two different cable companies. Hypp and Astro. Hypp cable came free with the internet service we ordered. I was looking for a bigger selection of English shows. I can probably appreciate Walker, Texas Ranger more than most, but I needed more. So I subscribed to Astro, so we could get TLC (for Savannah) and The Food Network (for the rest of us). It turns out the FN is an HD channel, and in my particular condo building, HD only comes with a certain internet provider. Which was not ours. Oh well. On Astro, I can watch American Idol the day after the US does. And The Voice is available. Peg watches Blacklist and The Good Wife, both the current season. Some TV series are available, but they are old seasons. The Oscars were on Astro, on the HBO channel.
Besides the several cable company options in KL, there are other ways to watch American TV and movies. Peg uses http://www.ustvnow.com. It is a way to watch live TV from the US. But of course, we are 13 hours ahead, so that can be an issue. There is the sling box, which hooks up to a cable subscription in the US. You can get a VPN (virtual private network) in order to access Netflix in KL. There is Apple TV, and other devices like Roku. Just don't expect any actual technical information from me. That is why I have teenagers.
I need to finish up this blog post so I can get back to spring-break vacation planning. I better add one of The Lord of the Rings movies to my list of movies to watch. Spring break destination? New Zealand!!
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