what's up with there only being 3 Original Songs nominated? The Academy has never been shy about nominating crappy songs before, surely they could field a 4th & 5th nominated song from somewhere. Of course I'm sure this is just a function of trying to keep the Awards Show itself from running 5 hours, not a reflection on the number of good songs.
per OscarWatch.com:
From the Academy Awards rules regarding original song:
"3. In the Original Song category, Music Branch members shall meet to screen clips of the eligible songs and vote on the achievements. Following the screening of the clips, voting shall be conducted as follows:
Nominations will be determined by an averaged point system of voting using 10, 9.5, 9, 8.5, 8, 7.5, 7, 6.5 or 6. Only those songs receiving an average score of 8.25 or more shall be eligible for nomination. There may not be more than five nor fewer than three nominations"
Translation: the eligible songs this year really DID suck. Now, I'm glad to see Terrence Howard recognized for
Hustle & Flow; he was good even tho' I strongly disliked the film. But BEST SONG? "It's Hard Out here For A Pimp" is awful, even as rap. One of the problems I had with the music in
H&F is that we're supposed to think it's great, but it's like a Chappelle's Show parody of Dirty South -- I kept expecting Chappelle's "Li'l Jon" to show up at any minute.
ETA: from Erik Childress at eFilmCritic.com...
"For the first time maybe ever a pimp-turned-rapper will compete against Dolly Parton in a music category. And they were worried about the
South Park song in 1999. Try these lyrics:
You know it's hard out here for a pimp (you ain't knowin)
When he tryin to get this money for the rent (you ain't knowin)
For the Cadillacs and gas money spent (you ain't knowin)
Because a whole lot of bitches talkin shit (you ain't knowin)
