January 22nd, 2009
M.I.A. Yes…Springsteen No!
So the Oscar nominations have just been announced, and debates are already raging: Benjamin Button got 13 nods, and The Dark Knight got shut out almost entirely? (Heath Ledger predictably got a Best Supporting Actor nomination, though.) Interesting choices in the Best Original Song category, too: M.I.A. earned a nomination for “O…Saya,” her collaboration with A.R. Rachman that’s featured in Slumdog Millionaire; another song from the film, “Jai Ho,” is up for the award. And the nominees are rounded out by “Down to Earth,” the collaboration between Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman that’s heard in Wall-E.
So where’s Bruce Springsteen’s title song from The Wrestler, which snagged a Golden Globe award back on January 11th? That song — the kind of tune Academy voters usually go ga-ga over (as they did for Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” back in 1994) — was expected by many to take home the trophy, but nope, not even nominated. Ah well, we can’t feel too bad for the Boss — and if this clears the way for an M.I.A. victory, then, y’know, fuck yeah! But we’re predicting right now that, in a typical Oscars move, Peter Gabriel wins it…
