Best Original Score and Best Original Song get the Oscar Circuit treatment today!

Yes, continuing this popular installment on the site, we bring you the Best Original Song article here and the Best Original Score article here. The articles will continue until all the categories are covered, and we'll be wrapping it up in the next week or so, so keep looking out for them, as they should hit every single day from here on out.
-Enjoy!

Watch Ryan Bingham (not George Clooney's character in 'Up in the Air') perform "The Weary Kind"...

...with this video from Letterman:



-This song from Crazy Heart is my favorite of the year...thoughts?

The Academy settles on 63 songs to duke it out for the Best Original Song nominations!

Some expected contenders were left out (the song from Precious, as well as additional songs from Crazy Heart and The Princess and the Frog), but overall, they sure have a varied list to choose from. Here they are:

• “All Is Love” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
• “Almost Over You” from “My One and Only”
• “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”
• “AyAyAyAy” from “The Maid”
• “Back to Tennessee” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
• “Being Bad” from “Duplicity”
• “Blanco” from “Fast & Furious”
• “Brothers in Arms” from “Brothers at War”
• “Butterfly Fly Away” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
• “Cinema Italiano” from “Nine”
• “Colorblind” from “Invictus”
• “Depression Era” from “That Evening Sun”
• “Don’t Walk Away” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
• “Dove of Peace” from “Bruno”
• “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
• “Fly Farm Blues” from “It Might Get Loud”
• “Forget Me” from “I Love You, Beth Cooper”
• “God Bless Us Everyone” from “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
• “Here” from “Shrink”
• “Hideaway” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
• “Hoedown Throwdown” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
• “I Bring What I Love” from “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love”
• “I See You” from “Avatar”
• “(I Want to) Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine”
• “If You’re Wondering” from “The Lightkeepers”
• “Impossible Fantasy” from “Adventures of Power”
• “Innocent Child” from “Skin”
• “Invictus 9,000 Days” from “Invictus”
• “Legendary” from “Tyson”
• “Let Freedom Reign” from “Skin”
• “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36”
• “Ma Belle Evangeline” from “The Princess and the Frog”
• “My One and Only” from “My One and Only”
• “Na Na” from “Couples Retreat”
• “Never Knew I Needed” from “The Princess and the Frog”
• “New Divide” from “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
• “New Jersey Nights” from “Adventures of Power”
• “New York Is Where I Live” from “Did You Hear about the Morgans?”
• “No Time for Love” from “Simon & Malou”
• “One Day” from “Post Grad”
• “Only You” from “The Young Victoria”
• “Other Father Song” from “Coraline”
• “Petey’s Song” from “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
• “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” from “Ponyo”“
• Possibility” from “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”
• “Raining Sunshine” from “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
• “Running Out of Empty (Make Ourselves at Home)” from “Lymelife”
• “Smoke without Fire” from “An Education”
• “Somebody Else” from “Crazy Heart”
• “Stu’s Song” from “The Hangover”
• “Take It All” from “Nine”
• “Through the Trees” from “Jennifer’s Body”
• “Trust Me” from “The Informant!”
• “Un Bouquet des Violettes” from “New York, I Love You”
• “We Are the Children of the World” from “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
• “We Love Violence” from “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart”
• “When You Find Me” from “Adam”
• “Winter” from “Brothers”
• “The Word Is Love” from “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!”
• “You Got Me Wrapped around Your Little Finger” from “An Education”
• “You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
• “You’ve Been a Friend to Me” from “Old Dogs”

-Thoughts on which songs have the best chances?

Springsteen's The Wrestler song gets a video!

-Just reminds me more of how big a snub his lack of a nomination was, but I'll get over it...

Peter Gabriel tells the Academy to sit and spin

Well, in far nicer terms, but the point remains the same, as you can see here in The Hollywood Reporter:

Peter Gabriel will not be performing at the Feb. 22 Academy Award telecast in support of his best song nominee "Down to Earth" from the film "WALL-E."In a video posted on PeterGabriel.com, Gabriel said that Oscar producers told him the three nominated songs will be performed as part of a medley, giving "Down to Earth" about 60-65 seconds of total air time. Gabriel said he doesn't believe it's enough time to showcase the song -- and while he'll still attend the ceremony and he's hoping the Soweto Gospel Choir will perform the snippet of the song in his stead -- he won't play it himself."I think it's a bit unfortunate because while songwriting is a small part of the filmmaking process, we still work bloody hard and deserve a place in the ceremony as well," he said.A representative with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences declined comment on the matter, saying that no announcements have been made, to date, as to who will or will not perform at the ceremony.The other nominated songs are A.R. Rahman and M.I.A.'s "O Saya" and Rahman's "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire."At the Feb. 8 Grammys, Gabriel and composer Thomas Newman won for best song written for motion picture, television or other visual media for "Down to Earth" and best instrumental arrangement for "Define Dancing," another track from the film.

-Wonder what they'll do now...

One Last Top 10 List...This Time of a Musical Nature

I know we're pretty much over top 10's for the year, but I wanted to chime in with one more...my list of the 10 best original songs, since we all were a little surprised that the Academy could only come up with 3....here's my 10:

1. The Wrestler (The Wrestler)
2. Dracula's Lament (Forgetting Sarah Marshall)
3. The Story (My Blueberry Nights)
4. Down to Earth (WALL-E)
5. Rock Me Sexy Jesus (Hamlet 2)
6. Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire)
7. I Thought I Lost You (Bolt)
8. Up to our Nex (Rachel Getting Married)
9. O Saya (Slumdog Millionaire)
10. Zydrate Anatomy (Repo! The Genetic Opera)
-I'm sure everyone else has other favorites, so sound off! And yes, I'm aware all 3 of the nominees are on my list, but only one cracked the top 5...