In which I prepare to watch the Oscars at three in the morning

So as you may remember, my friend S.B. and I have gone to watch the Oscars the last couple of years. As I'm in Vienna, this means heading out to a local cinema at 12:30 to get our seats in time for the red carpet interviews. The actual ceremony starts at 2:00 or 2:30 and finishes somewhere on the other side of 5:00.

Though you may not believe it, this is really the best way to watch them.

First of all, we'll be in a big theatre.
Nothing says "I'm doing something exciting" like being in a room full of a couple hundred other people who are excited. There's an MC. There's games. There's free champagne for anyone who comes in an evening gown or a tuxedo, but I've never managed that. I love any occasion involving costumes (references available upon request), but it's kind of cold in a cinema in Vienna in February at three o'clock in the morning. Still, despite not quite looking as good as the nominees, there will be a palatable excitement in the room. You just can't drum up a palatable excitement on your couch.

Plus, and this is something that the cinema itself has been recently sharing as part of its 50th anniversary, they've held movie premieres in this cinema. (Spartacus no less. Check out the little note they received from Kirk Douglas.) So that's a big deal. It sure beats a couch.

It's in the middle of the night.
I know what you're thinking, that sounds really inconvenient. Shouldn't that be a disadvantage? No, actually it makes it more exciting. There is something so funny about being someplace at a time when it's usually closed. Maybe it's just the 'kid locked up in a toy store overnight' thing. Or the decadence of knowing that you'll be heading home at around the same time as all those other suckers are on their way to work. But making a complete break in normal routine elevates the event to VERY VERY EXCITING. This is really Event Television.

The key to making it work, of course, is the red carpet. I can't stress enough how important it is to watch the red carpet. Heading out to a cinema at 12:30 is not that bad. Trying to leave the house at 2:30 would be impossible. Obviously. But the red carpet gets you out before you seriously start to think about being sleepy and is great at further building the tension. ("Yay! Look what she's wearing! I hope she wins just so I get to see that dress again!")

I think a lot of things could be made more interesting by special event middle-of-the-night scheduling. For example: I'm not a fan of grocery shopping (too much of an understatement?), but would I attend a special once a year night owl event with several hundred excited shoppers? Absolutely. A three A.M. tax file-off? Sounds fun. [Ed's note, that event actually exists and is just called 'waiting until the last minute to file'.]

I thought I had a third reason but now I can't think of it.
But those other reasons basically cover it: it's in a big, fancy cinema and it's in the middle of the night. It's a lot of fun.