AMPAS Continues Its Descent Into Irrelevancy...

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This comes from The Carpetbagger at The New York Times:

"The original song category for the Oscars has already hit its share of clanky notes, what with none of Eddie Vedder’s breathtaking songs for “Into the Wild” making the cut. And now comes quiet word that “Falling Slowly,” the achingly pretty song from “Once” written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, may be ruled ineligible. The Bagger has been making some calls and there are indications that that the song, which is up against three, count ‘em three, songs from “Enchanted” in addition to “Raise It Up” from “August Rush,” may have some problems with eligibility requirements...

New bit: Greg Mitchell, the editor of Editor and Publisher and a guy who knows a lot about a lot, suggests in his blog Pressing Issues that “Falling Slowly” was out there for the listening before “Once” hit the screens. He writes:

'Here’s the likely cause: The song, “Falling Slowly,” appeared on two albums before the movie came out — a big no-no for the Academy — but the question is, was it written for the movie specifically and then ended up on the CDs as the film made its slow way to release? It appears on two excellent 2007 CDs by the writer and male star in the film, Glen Hansard: One is from his band, The Frames, called The Cost, and the other is the duet album he made with his co-star in the flick, Marketa Iglova, The Swell Season. You can see The Frames do it via YouTube. He was definitely asked to write original songs for the movie (he wasn’t supposed to appear in it himself at first) but whether “Falling Slowly” was one of them, I don’t know for sure.'"

Way to piss on one of your better nominations of the year, AMPAS. Next thing you know they'll rule Sarah Polley ineligible for her Best Screenplay nomination because she's touched a pen to paper before.
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