[HOT]
The Oscars’ Looney Tunes
The Best Original Song category at Sunday’s Academy Awards is turning out to be the Oscars’ most controversial storyline, and not just because Randy Newman was snubbed. The Academy voters deemed only two songs worthy of nomination after being presented with a short-list of 39 perfectly fine movie tunes. Then it was announced that the songs would not be performed on the show, but the not-nominated-for-anything Cirque du Soleil troupe would take up valuable airtime. So we’re robbed of seeing The Muppets perform “Man or a Muppet,” their nominated song by Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, even after Facebookers petitioned for the fuzzy icons to host the ceremony (Kermit and Miss Piggy will be presenters). Hopefully Fozzie Bear kanyes fellow nominee Sergio Mendes if “Real in Rio” (from the cartoon Rio) wins.
[WARM]
Funny Foo Man’s View
Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl showed again why you should be psyched about the half-hour Rock band comedy he’s developing for FX. After comments at the Grammys about music being about human passion and not “what goes on in a computer,” the hirsute rocker was lambasted online. So he issued a statement funnier than CBS’s entire slate of generic hit sitcoms, hilariously explaining he meant no offense to current Electro darlings like Skrillex and ths his rant was aimed at the digital airbrushing of Pop music today. The lesson learned? “Don’t give me two Crown Royals and then ask me to make a speech at your wedding, because I might just bust into the advantages of recording to 2-inch tape.”
[COLD]
Whitney’s Final Bow
With respect to Whitney Houston’s contributions to popular music, did we really need wall-to-wall coverage of her funeral? Held on a slow news day (Saturday), it received Princess Diana-style coverage from CNN, Fox News, BET and other networks. E! had live coverage from the funeral in Newark, N.J., but showed remarkable restraint, airing no red-carpet-style pre-show (though the celebrity presence would otherwise demand it). With the blurring of tabloid and real news coverage, would anyone even flinch if Ryan Seacrest started asking pallbearers who they were wearing?
