Minnesotans Kick Some Ass At The 80th Annual Academy Awards; Once Wins Best Song Oscar (Plus Video of "Falling Slowly" Performance)

Download: The Moldy Peaches - "Anyone Else But You"
Download: Michael Cera & Ellen Page - "Anyone Else But You"
Download: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - "Falling Slowly"

For those of you Minnesotans who didn't watch the 80th annual Academy Awards should know that, if you had, you would have felt some serious hometown pride. Not only did No Country For Old Men, the twelfth full-length feature from St. Louis Park-born filmmaking duo the Coen Bros., won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem) and Best Adapted Screenplay, but the winner for Best Original Screenplay went to none other than Diablo Cody. Cody is the Minneapolis-based, Chicago-born (yay Chicago and MPLS!) "something-something-turned-something-or-another", who was awarded a statuette for her screenplay Juno. And while this writer can't show them some hometown love, lest I defy the laws of physics, congratulations all around are in order all the same.

In music related Oscar news, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova defied the odds once again by winning the Best Song Academy Award for "Falling Slowly", the centerpiece of the film Once, in which both Hansard and Irglova co-starred. Watch video of their performance, and listen to the original version, at the top of the post.

Once Soundtrack MySpace Page
Juno official website
No Country For Old Men official website

(Jonathan Graef)