You will not see Peter Gabriel perform his Oscar-nominated song Down to Earth from the movie Wall*E at this year’s ceremony. Why?
There's just no time.
The producers asked Gabriel to cut the song down to 60 seconds to be combined in a medley with two songs from the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Gabriel is protesting and I don’t blame him one little bit. This yearly three-hour display of all that is inane and ridiculous about the movie industry could easily spare five minutes for this incredible song.
Perhaps you only know “Elder Statesman Peter Gabriel”:
Or, maybe you’re a bit older and you remember “Funky Videos on MTV Gabriel”:
Personally, I think this is “Screw Genesis I Am an Artist Gabriel” coming out:
He has made a statement that he hopes the Soweto Gospel Choir will perform the song in his place and that he will still attend the event. I hope he wears this:
It’s high time that the Academy started showing more of the performances which inspired the awards and less time focused on Jack Nicholson in the front row chuckling at the host’s jokes about how many women he’s known biblically.
Until the Academy sees that there is money to be made by drawing in new audiences for the films they are honoring by actually SHOWING the films and highlighting the performers, I believe this is just show business congratulating themselves on being masters of the universe.
STOP IT!
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All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
~Oscar Wilde
BUMPIFIED!
I have to go put some Peter Gabriel on my iPod now. Thanks for this post.
Brian - I'm not necessarily one of those people who HATE the dressing up part. I think that glamor and beauty are uplifting for a lot of people. But music is SO important. Not to mention the actual acting performances which are shaved down to a five second sound bite from each movie. Again... SHEESH!
::glare in the direction of the PTB::
Et tu, Jodi?
Ratedn anyway, because the Oscars really do suck.
According to my completely inaccurate and unscientific estimations, roughly one half of the telecast is about Jack's Little Jacky.
Perhaps we could have some interactive Jack content where we can go to OscarPresentsJacksPenis.com and see a timeline and complicated map of Jack's conquests? Maybe the infernal thing could start twittering?
Then we could see... oh... maybe some of the movies?
::winkles::
I guess I'll be missing the Oscars this year.
P.S. Slide on over and check out Sheldon's The Little Golden Guy post. It's about the Oscars too and he knows more about this than I do.
Every time I hear Peter Gabriel or something from Genesis I immediately crack up laughing that they're still playing that on the radio. That would be like, 20 years from now, having Christina Aguilera on the air. Why? It's catchy, sure, but it's not like it's musically complex or symphonic in nature or otherwise musically useful.
If the academy wanted to do anything but congratulate themselves for being masters of the universe, then you would see indie label bands in movies, such as a band from Deep Elm Records. The only one I can think of lately that came close was "Godspeed you black emperor" on 28 Days Later, and when was the last time that a horror flick came up for an award... (if it won an award then boy is my face red, I don't really pay any attention to these things anyway, I just hope Coraline gets one next year for best animated film, or whatever the category may be that it would fit into)
I sure don't compare when it comes to his charm or his carnal conquests.
As far as Gabriel, I think it's insulting to ask an artist to alter a painting to appease viewers. No difference when it comes to music. Hell, don't these things run over all the time anyway?
This year I hear they'll be performing on stage scenes from the nominated films, and as much as I love live theatre I think that is another in their ever increasingly stupid choices for that show. It's about MOVIES for God's sake, not theatre!! It's a completely different medium and should be honored as such.
That said, I'll probably still watch it.
I agree each song should be sang by the original artist in complete. There have been some great moments at the Oscars when they do that. Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond comes to mind.
While on the subject of the Oscars and other awards shows, I wish the networks would have the balls to turn off the seven second delay. So what if an "F" bomb gets dropped occasionally. Those who object just never got the point to the "Fish Cheer" at Woodstock. The point was that our parents had their curse words, ours just happens to be fuck.
Just watch a few episodes of "Inside the Actor's Studio." Nearly everyone when asked their favorite curse word says fuck or maybe mother fuck. Lets let the adults talk like adults. If you don't want the children to hear it, put them to bed. If you don't want to hear it, change channels and read about who one in the morning paper.
What a huge disappointment. I can't believe that the Oscars would bump the immortal singer of "Game without Frontiers" and "Sledgehammer" to make way for more crappy acceptance speeches.
(This was the proverbial last straw? Really?!? Shouldn't the 13 Benjamin Button Nominations have served as an amplified "DO NOT WATCH THE OSCARS!!" siren? Peter Gabriel? Really?)
Really.
I don't actually get to SEE these movies in the theater, so I have to wait for HBO because I'm too cheap for Netflix.
This bothers me... is there a BETTER reason than Peter Gabriel?
REALLY?!?
;)
GIMME AN "F"!!!
It is so long and so boring to watch anymore and when anyone has anything remotely interesting to say, their time is up before they get to their point.
Last year I caught a few of the TMZ type shows and got to see most of the interesting bits in far less time with humorous asides, not old jokes.
No, I'm not feeling curmudgeonly today, why do you ask?
my speakers suck but so glad for the photos and video. lvoe love love.
He played 'The Barry Williams Show' on NBC's Today show!
Katie Couric almost had a cow, on screen... I don't think he's been back since and I loved it!!!
I've given up watching any of the award shows because vary few of the real deserving movies actually get the nominations and attention they deserve! It's all a cruel joke.
Watch 'This film is not yet rated' that details the MPAA's hypocritical grip on power... It's all a sick game...
Hmph.