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I know I am jumping the gun here, but if those four songs are eligible, I do think whichever one Fox Searchlights chooses to run with (I doubt they'll campaign for four, lest it splits the vote), I think it is the best lock there can be this year. The warm fuzzy feeling out there for the film is enormous. And not only the film, but the way it was made, the way it was picked up, the story of the actors dating now. Outside of Original Screenplay, I can't see the film getting another nomination, so Best Song would be the Academy's way of recognising the work. Funnily enough, the movie tanked here in Ireland. No one went to see it. A bit like My Left Foot. It was only after Bob and Harvey had Miramaxed it at the Oscars that it was embraced by Irish audiences. Seems like we need Americans to rubber stamp what we think of as success.

And The Swell Season has been touring this fall, selling out shows. Don't know that the audience was full of Academy voters, but it can't hurt in the Best Song category. This would be one case where I'd actually look forward to the Best Song performances at the Oscars.

Academy voters love to be the climax of a rags-to-riches story, so if these guys get a nomination they immediately become the front-runners, just like Damon & Affleck ten years ago.

Searchlight is only campaigning for two songs: "Falling Slowly" and "If You Want Me."

I actually saw Glen and Marketa perform the Once songs live yesterday, at the National here in Montreal. It was a magical evening, right from when Glen took the stage alone with his guitar and sang the hell out of "Say it to me now". Marketa and him have the same great voices and chemistry on stage as in the movie, and Glen's between-songs banter is hilarious. Dude's a brilliant storyteller, someone needs to book him on all the talk shows pronto!

Considering Hairspray and Enchanted (ALAN MENKIN!) also have original songs plus Eddie Veddar and Kate Bush have songs in contention I can't see any movie pulling a Dreamgirls and hogging more than two spots.

Man, I'd love to see Kate Bush perform at the Oscars, wouldn't you?

If they have figured a way of making "Falling Slowly" eligible (if the movie was indeed filmed in Jan. 06 then they stand a better chance), then it's a shoe-in for a nomination, but it does make one wonder when two different versions on two different albums appeared before the theatrical release of the movie. If it falls through, they can always go with "Once" which wasn't on any album but it's not as strong a song.

I also saw Glenn and Marketa at their sold-out show at the Beacon Theatre=-compared to their 2006 show at Tonic in front of 80 people the year before--and at least two people yelled out that they deserve an "Oscar" during the show. There is a definite obsession and fanaticism with this duo, their music and the movie based around it that can only continue to grow as the screeners start circulating, and it's one of the few movies that doesn't have the ending problems of so many others including Atonement and No Country.

I think the song "Once" isn't eligible as it plays at the very end of the closing credits, and I believe Academy rules state that only the first song that plays on the crawl qualifies.

Hairspray has two original songs, but only one is being pushed: the closing credits "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)," as opposed to "Ladies' Choice," which is featured in the film proper. ("The New Girl in Town" is one of those "Come What May" situations in that it was written for the stage version but never used and hence does not qualify.)

Why they're not pushing "Ladies Choice" is mindboggling, quite frankly.

I imagine seeing the music from Once being performed would be much more fitting for the material than the movie.

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