So another year and another bunch of movies that are mostly average vying for a golden statue to prove their status in the film world. This year has been more predictable than others insofar as every single nomination (bar one or two surprise ones) have been mentioned to death in the run up. Its no surprise whatsoever to see Sean Penn be nominated for Milk, Angeline Jolie for Changeling and Kate Winslet be nominated for something. Although its weird she wasn't nominated for Revolutionary Road after winning the best Actress Golden Globe for it, still at least she wasn't nominate twice and thus splitting the vote.

Its not surprising to see Heath Ledger get nominated for The Dark Knight although it is delighful and a tad refreshing but it actually makes me cry that it happened in the same year that Robert Downey Jr is nominated for Tropic Thunder which is totally out of left field but fucking brilliant altogether. I want Heath Ledger to win but I really want Downey Jr to pick up something for being awesome and this would have been the perfect choice. Oh well. Some other time.

Normally each year I try and watch as many of the nominated films as I can and I'm delighted that I don't have to spend every waking moment doing that now as I've seen a fair few already. Some good. Some bad.

Full nominations in the read more and my comments about each one.



BOLD - What I would like to win.
Italics - What I think will win


Best Film:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

None of these are particularly amazing but Slumdog Millionaire is a piece of schmaltzy shit whereas Button is, if nothing else, visually astounding.


Director:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - David Fincher
Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard
Milk - Gus Van Sant
The Reader - Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle

I'd love Danny Boyle to win an oscar. But not for this. Frost/Nixon is good but nothing special whereas as I said before Benjamin Button looks savage.


Actor In A Leading Role:
The Visitor - Richard Jenkins
Frost/Nixon - Frank Langella
Milk - Sean Penn
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -
Brad Pitt
The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke

As Rob has pointed out The Wrestler is amazing and criminally not nominated for Best Film and Director. I can see Mickey Rourke win but Sean Penn has got all the right Oscar boxes ticked. Brad Pitt however shouldn't be here. They should have nominated Cate Blanchett for the same film in his stead.


Actor In A Supporting Role:
Milk - Josh Brolin
Tropic Thunder - Robert Downey Jr.
Doubt - Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger
Revolutionary Road - Michael Shannon

If its Ledger I'll be happy. If its Downey Jr I'll be surprised but happy. Sorry Josh Brolin this isn't your year.


Actress In A Leading Role:
Rachel Getting Married - Anne Hathaway
Changeling - Angelina Jolie
Frozen River - Melissa Leo
Doubt - Meryl Streep
The Reader - Kate Winslet

I haven't seen The Reader yet but I can't imagine I'll think its anything particularly special. I just love Kate Winslet and think she should win everything.


Actress In A Supporting Role:
Doubt - Amy Adams
Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Penélope Cruz
Doubt - Viola Davis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Taraji P. Henson
The Wrestler - Marisa Tomei

The fact that there's two people nominated for Doubt means that neither of them will win because of the split vote. I really want Marisa Tomei to win. Firstly because I think she's hot as fuck for a woman in her mid 40's and watch The Wrestler if you don't believe me but also because it would be hilarious if she won it again and people thought the wrong name was read out just like the last time she won.
I think they'll go with something a little less sultry though in all honesty.


Adapted Screenplay:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt - John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan
The Reader - David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy

No Idea. They're all adapted from prominent enough works. Slumdog Millionaires novel "Q&A" is awful as well and actually made worse on the screen. Why not go for an F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation though as its so different from the book.


Original Screenplay:
Frozen River - Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
Milk - Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

In Bruges doesn't really count as the little Indie-Film-that-could. Or does it? I'm going for it anyway but Wall-E I reckon will take it.


Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Seriously. There's no contest.


At this point its anyones game. The Dark Knight will probably take a bunch of the technical awards. God knows Wanted doesn't deserve anything. And notice the lack of Indiana Jones?


Art Direction
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Cinematography
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Costume Design
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Documentary Short
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Austria
Waltz with Bashir

Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
WALL-E - Thomas Newman

Original Song
WALL-E - "Down to Earth"
Slumdog Millionaire - "Jai Ho"
Slumdog Millionaire - "O Saya"

Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Animated Short
La Maison de Petits Cubes
Lavatory - Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Live Action Short
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

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The DOD has been nominated for the prestigious If.Comedy Award (formerly known as the Perrier Award) at the Edinburgh Comedy festival.

It's the second time he's been nominated for the award, and hopefully this time he'll come out victorious. Congrats and good luck!

Here's a taste of the DOD's low energy musical whimsy in the form of a history lesson:

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The shortlist for the Mercury Music prize has been announced, with some interesting inclusions (as usual).

The list in full:

• Adele- 19″
• British Sea Power- Do You Like Rock Music?
• Burial- Untrue
  
• Elbow- The Seldom Seen Kid
• Estelle- Shine
• The Last Shadow Puppets- The Age Of The Understatement
• Laura Marling- Alas I Cannot Swim
• Neon Neon- Stainless Style
• Portico Quartet- Knee-Deep In The North Sea
• Robert Plant And Alison Krauss- Raising Sand
• Radiohead- In Rainbows
• Rachel Unthank And The Winterset- The Bairns

Probably going to win: Burial/ Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Inclusions that underwhelmed me: Last of the Shadow Puppets, Burial (I know, I must be some kind of fool not to have liked the Burial album).

Surprised not to see: Foals, Hot Chip, Portishead... etc.

I'd be happy with: Radiohead

The Rachel Unthunk malarky sounds pretty good, except for the crazy Jack Duckworth accent. Or is it Kevin Keegan? Either way, they're playing Electric Picnic, so add that to your 'to see' list, hype-followers.

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This is really oh-so boring.

Best Band: Arctic Monkeys
Best Live Band: Muse
Best Dressed: Noel Fielding


Didn't the NME give these same people the awards last year? Sigh.

Worst Album: Britney Spears

Pure bandwagon jumping! I'm willing to bet they didn't even listen to the album. Sure it's no masterpiece, but it's got some damn good pop tracks.

Hero of the Year: Pete Doherty

That's just great NME, nice message to send to your pubescent readership- heroism can be bought in alleyways from dodgy strangers with puke on their face.

More ridiculous are the awards attempts to be taken seriously, such as the appearance of various politicians in the Villain of the Year category. So we have George Bush & Gordon Brown going head to head with Johnny Borrell & Amy Winehouse (who were surely 'cool' last year- how fickle the world of fame...).

And why bother have 'Worst' awards? It seems a pointless, and unnecessarily bitchy thing to do on a night that's supposed to be a celebration. I'm sure when 'The Hoosiers' were announced as worst band, at least some of the revelers were sitting there feeling a bit awkward thinking: 'They're my mates'.

Fear not, Hoosiers, you're being rejected by an awards ceremony which has a category to determine which is best: Bebo, Myspace or Facebook. It may not be the end of the world.

Full list of winners below..

Best British Band - Arctic Monkeys

Also nominated:
Babyshambles
The Cribs
Klaxons
Muse

Best International Band - The Killers

Also nominated:
Arcade Fire
Foo Fighters
Kings Of Leon
My Chemical Romance

Best New Band - The Enemy

Also nominated:
Foals
Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong
The Pigeon Detectives
The Wombats

Best Live Band - Muse

Also nominated:
Arctic Monkeys
The Cribs
Kaiser Chiefs
My Chemical Romance

Best Solo Artist - Kate Nash

Also nominated:
Jack Penate
Jamie T
Amy Winehouse
Patrick Wolf

Best Album - ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ - Arctic Monkeys

Also nominated:
‘Shotters Nation’ - Babyshambles
‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’ – The Enemy
‘Myths Of The Near Future’ - Klaxons
‘In Rainbows’ – Radiohead

Best Track - ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ – Arctic Monkeys

Also nominated:
‘Flux’ – Bloc Party
‘Men’s Needs’ – The Cribs
‘Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’ - Oasis
‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ – The Wombats

Best Video - ‘Teddy Picker’ – Arctic Monkeys

Also nominated:
‘Flux’ – Bloc Party
‘D.A.N.C.E.’ - Justice
‘Golden Skans’ - Klaxons
‘Teenagers’ – My Chemical Romance

Best Dancefloor Filler - ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ – The Wombats

Also nominated:
‘Flux’ – Bloc Party
‘Hummer’ - Foals
‘D.A.N.C.E.’ - Justice
‘Atlantis To Interzone’ - Klaxons

Best Music DVD - ‘Unplugged In New York’ - Nirvana

Also nominated:
‘Up The Shambles’ – Babyshambles
‘The Song Remains The Same (Special Edition)’ – Led Zeppelin
‘Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’ - Oasis
‘I Told You I Was Trouble’ – Amy Winehouse

Best Live Event - Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festival

Also nominated:
Glastonbury
Muse At Wembley Stadium
T In The Park
V Festival

Hero Of The Year - Pete Doherty

Also nominated:
Matt Bellamy
Noel Fielding
Ryan Jarman
Thom Yorke

Villain Of The Year - George W Bush

Also nominated:
Tony Blair
Johnny Borrell
Gordon Brown
Amy Winehouse

Best Dressed - Noel Fielding

Also nominated:
Pete Doherty
Kate Nash
Alex Turner
Gerard Way

Worst Dressed - Amy Winehouse

Also nominated:
Johnny Borrell
Pete Doherty
Mika
Gerard Way

Best Album Artwork - ‘The Good, The Bad & The Queen’ – The Good, The Bad & The Queen

Also nominated:
‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ – Arctic Monkeys
‘Sawdust’ – The Killers
‘Because Of The Times’ – Kings Of Leon
‘Send Away The Tigers’ – Manic Street Preachers

Best Radio Show - Zane Lowe (Radio 1)

Also nominated:
Russell Brand (Radio 2)
Chris Moyles (Radio 1)
Colin Murray (Radio 1)
Jo Whiley (Radio 1)

Worst Album - ‘Blackout’ - Britney Spears

Also nominated:
‘All The Lost Souls’ - James Blunt
‘The Trick To Life’ – The Hoosiers
‘Spirit’ - Leona Lewis
‘Life In Cartoon Motion’ - Mika

Worst Band - The Hoosiers

Also nominated:
30 Seconds To Mars
Fall Out Boy
My Chemical Romance
Panic At The Disco
Best TV Show - The Mighty Boosh

Also nominated:
Heroes
The IT Crowd
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Skins
Best Film - Control

Also nominated:
Hot Fuzz
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End
The Simpsons Movie
Superbad

Sexiest Man - Noel Fielding

Also nominated:
Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist
Julian Barratt
Nicky Wire
Patrick Wolf
Sexiest Woman - Kylie Minogue

Also nominated:
Jenny Lewis
Rihanna
Hayley Williams
Rachael Yamagata

Best Venue - Wembley Stadium

Also nominated:
Brixton Carling Academy
Glasgow Barrowland
London Astoria
Manchester Apollo
Best Website - Facebook

Also nominated:
Bebo
Last.fm
MySpace
YouTube
Best Band Blog - Radiohead (www.radiohead.com/deadairspace)

Also nominated:
Lily Allen (www.myspace.com/lilymusic)
Foals (www.wearefoals.com/blog)
Lightspeed Champion (www.lightspeedchampion.com)
The Streets (www.myspace.com/thestreets)
Best Music Blog - The Modern Age (www.themodernage.org)

Also nominated:
The Hype Machine (hypem.com )
Nothing But Green Lights (nothingbutgreenlights.net)
Spinner (spinner.com)
Stereogum (stereogum.com)

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Awards season marches on, with the Brits being held last night in Earls Court. Unsurprisingly, they delivered the same tired old dirge as they have pretty much every other year.

Lowlights include Take That being awarded for being a live act (hilarious); the awful, awful Mika being named Best Breakthrough Artist; and that ever ridiculous, personal pet-hate of mine- Kanye West taking the gong for Best International Male.

There's definitely cause for a rant here, but it's just way too easy.

Full winners here.

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Did you know that Aslan are the best band in Ireland?

No, neither did I. But the folks over at the Meteor Awards seem to think so.

And they're accused of being out of touch with reality. Pish..

No wins for Fight Like Apes or Delorentos, but congrats to Ham Sandwich for winning the 'Hope For 2008 Award'.

Full list of winners below..

* Best National DJ - Ray Foley Today FM
* Best Regional DJ - Keith Cunningham Red FM
* Best Irish Band - Aslan
* Best Irish Male - Duke Special
* Best Irish Female - Cathy Davey
* Best Irish Pop Act - Westlife
* Best Irish Album - Paddy Casey with Addicted to Company
* Best Irish Live Performance - The Blizzards
* Lifetime Achievement Award - The Saw Doctors
* Best Irish Folk Traditional - Damien Dempsey
* Best International Live Performance - Muse
* Best International Male - Bruce Springsteen
* Best International Female - Amy Winehouse
* Best International Album - Arcade Fire with Neon Bible
* Best International Band - Radiohead
* Humantiarian Award - Mary Donohoe
* Most Downloaded Song - Mundy and Sharon Shannon with Galway Girl
* Hope for 2008 Meteor Award - Ham Sandwich

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Anybody who has sat through the whole Oscar ceremony like I have for the last 7 years will know how excruciatingly boring and cringeworthy it can be and will also be slightly refreshed by the not so crap Bafta ceremony. For one it was hosted by the mighty Jonathan Ross who, while not as funny as he is on his own programmes, did still manage to beat the shit out of Ellen Degeneres, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg, all people who have sucked hosting the Oscars.


The winners weren't completely surprising in most categories as the films nominated this year have all succeeded in being pretty good.

Atonement won best pictures which isn't surprising seeing as this is the BRITISH film awards, what is suprising is that it didn't win Best British Film. Instead that award went to This is England. Considering all the other films in that category (Control, Eastern Promises, The Bourne Ultimatum, Atonement) were significantly better than Shane Meadows alright-for-an-hour-shite-for-the-end movie about Nazis in 80's England made this the biggest surprise of the night for me.

The Coen's won for best Director which is hopefully a sign of things to come next month. The lives of Others won best foreign film for what surely must he be the last awards ceremony that it can be nominated in (its awesome by the by). Daniel-Day and Javier Bardem won the Best Actor and Supporting Actors (Surprise Surprise) and Marion Cotillard won for La Vie en Rose (this will be watched tonight finally) proving that it might not be a runaway win for Julie Christie in two weeks time.

All the other jibber jabber can be found here and one thing I learnt from last night is that Joe Wright (Atonement Director) is one lucky bastard as he seems to have nabbed himself the lovely Rosamund Pike:



MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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This Monday we wake up to the news that Amy Winehouse has won five Grammys. Wow.

Click to be reminded why this doesn't matter a damn.

To wake you up here's something loud from At The Drive-In:

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Feist has won the 2007 Shortlist Prize, beating off competition from the likes of Justice, Arcade Fire & LCD Soundsystem.

I wish I was a betting man, cause I totally called this one.

Yay me.

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There's a few winces & groans in here as usual, the perpetual worship of Pete Doherty being the one that irks me most. How does being a junky equate to being a hero? What kind of message is that sending, NME?

Arctic Monkeys seem sure of some awards, as does the aforementioned junkie scumbag, as they both seem to be nominated in every category. In fact, very few categories are worthy of mention, except maybe 'Sexiest Female' (Jenny Lewis) and 'Worst Album', which should be an epic battle between the super-bland James Blunt & the super-awful Mika (Britney is surely in there just for bandwagon hopping- the album's not that bad).

There really are a lot of categories, so for the full list click here.

Best British Band
Arctic Monkeys
Babyshambles
The Cribs
Klaxons
Muse

Best International Band
Arcade Fire
Foo Fighters
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
My Chemical Romance

Best New Band
The Enemy
Foals
Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong
The Pigeon Detectives
The Wombats

Best Live Band
Arctic Monkeys
The Cribs
Kaiser Chiefs
Muse
My Chemical Romance

Best Solo Artist
Kate Nash
Jamie T
Jack Penate
Amy Winehouse
Patrick Wolf

Best Album
'Favourite Worst Nightmare' - Arctic Monkeys
'Shotters Nation' - Babyshambles
'We'll Live And Die In These Towns' – The Enemy
'Myths Of The Near Future' - Klaxons
'In Rainbows' – Radiohead

Best Track
'Fluorescent Adolescent' – Arctic Monkeys
'Flux' – Bloc Party
'Men's Needs' – The Cribs
'Lord Don't Slow Me Down' - Oasis
'Let's Dance To Joy Division' – The Wombats

Best Video supported by NME TV
'Teddy Picker' – Arctic Monkeys
'Flux' – Bloc Party
'D.A.N.C.E.' - Justice
'Golden Skans' - Klaxons
'Teenagers' – My Chemical Romance

Hero Of The Year
Matt Bellamy
Pete Doherty
Noel Fielding
Ryan Jarman
Thom Yorke

Villain Of The Year
Tony Blair
Johnny Borrell
Gordon Brown
George W Bush
Amy Winehouse

Best Dressed
Pete Doherty
Noel Fielding
Kate Nash
Alex Turner
Gerard Way

Worst Dressed
Johnny Borrell
Pete Doherty
Mika
Gerard Way
Amy Winehouse

Best Dancefloor Filler supported by Club NME
'Flux' – Bloc Party
'Hummer' - Foals
'D.A.N.C.E.' - Justice
'Atlantis To Interzone' - Klaxons
'Let's Dance To Joy Division' – The Wombats

Best Album Artwork
'Favourite Worst Nightmare' – Arctic Monkeys
'The Good, The Bad And The Queen' – The Good, The Bad And The Queen
'Sawdust' – The Killers
'Because Of The Times' – Kings Of Leon
'Send Away The Tigers' – Manic Street Preachers

Worst Album
'1973' - James Blunt
'The Trick To Life' – The Hoosiers
'Spirit' - Leona Lewis
'Life In Cartoon Motion' - Mika
'Blackout' - Britney Spears

Worst Band
30 Seconds To Mars
Fall Out Boy
The Hoosiers
My Chemical Romance
Panic At The Disco

Best Film
'Control'
'Hot Fuzz'
'Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End'
'The Simpsons Movie'
'Superbad'

Sexiest Man
Howlin' Pelle Almqvist
Julian Barrett
Noel Fielding
Nicky Wire
Patrick Wolf

Sexiest Woman
Jenny Lewis
Kylie Minogue
Rihanna
Hayley Williams
Rachael Yamagata

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Nominees for the 2007 the Shortlist Prize (kinda like a US version of the Mercury Prize) have been announced today. They are:

* Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
* Burial - Untrue
* Feist - The Reminder
* Justice - †
* LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
* M.I.A. - Kala
* Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
* Robert Pollard - Standard Gargoyle Decisions
* Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
* Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
* Working For A Nuclear Free City - Businessmen & Ghosts

No Beirut? Damn shame. My money's on Feist, but will have to check out Robert Pollard, Working For A Nuclear Free City & the new Stars. The winner is announced at some undetermined point in February.

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egoeccentric has been longlisted in the Best Popculture category for the Irish Blog Awards- Woo Hoo! The full (and intimidatingly good) longlist can be viewed here.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us, we shall duely respond with a sweet-tastic mix-tape by the end of the day, but until then enjoy this manically happy track by Islands (who shall soon play Whelans). Tis called 'Rough Gem':

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The Writers Guild of America has given the Grammy Awards the go ahead. So I guess the Oscars are safe. Let's just hope Ellen doesn't get the hosting gig again.

Click for story

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In an attempt to reassure myself that Hansard will remain only ever 'Academy Award Nominee Glen Hansard', lets take a look at his competition in the Best Song category for the Oscars:

August Rush
'Raise It Up'



Hmmm.. not encouraging, Fairly standard cheese fair. An outside chance simply because it's sung by a cute little kid.

Enchanted
'Happy Working Song'



This movie looks good, and with three noms it's got to be the main competition, but I don't think there's enough in this particular tune to win.

Dang. Let's move on..

Enchanted
'So Close'




'So straightforward- not a hint of irony. So romantic..' Really have to watch this movie.. but dammit, this song sucks. Next:

Enchanted
'That's How You Know'



This has got to be the strongest competition. It's actually not bad. It's got that calypso thing going on that you can't argue with, and the comedy is pretty good (though I don't know if that'll be taken into account).



Dammit though, there just isn't really anything that can stand up to 'Falling Slowly'. As much as I don't like Hansard, I have to admit it's probably the best song on offer. I just don't think we can stand the ego. Well, on the bright side, if he wins he may become a big worldwide star and leave Ireland for good. For some reason (surely ego related) embedding on Falling Slowly is disabled, so you'll have to go elsewhere to see it.

Ok fine, here's the link. Just don't say I wasn't impartial.

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Voting for the Irish Blog Awards closes today, so it's your last chance to propel us to fame & fortune (which we will of course share with all our loyal readers).

Click to vote- Thanks!

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The Pearl Jam frontman has picked up one of the prestigious (hmm..) awards for this nice acoustic number he wrote for Sean Penn's 'Into The Wild':



Click for story

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The Choice Music Prize is a kickass award given out to the outstanding Irish album of the year. Click here for the award site. This year's nominations were announced this evening.

Thanks to Nialler9 for the full list.

1. Adrian Crowley - Long Distance Swimmer
2. Cathy Davey - Tales of Silversleeve
3. Delorentos - In Love with Detail
4. Dry County - Unexpected Falls
5. The Flaws - Achieving Vagueness
6. Dave Geraghty - Kill your Darlings
7. Kila - Gamber’s Ballet
8. Roísín Murphy - Overpowered
9. Stanley Super 800 - Louder and Clearer
10. Super Extra Bonus Party - Super Extra Bonus Party LP

Thoughts? There are one or two in there that i haven't yet heard, so will have to be getting on that asap. Right now my favorite to win has got to be a two-way tie between Delorentos & Cathy Davey. But, as I said, there's much more to listen to.

Here is the Judging Panel for 2007:

Brian Boyd (The Irish Times), Alan Corr (The RTE Guide), Michael Carr (Cork 96FM), Ronan Casey (Westmeath Examiner), Dan Hegarty (2FM), Anne Marie Kelly (Today FM), Sheena McGinley (Entertainment.ie), Una Mullally (Sunday Tribune), Paul McClean, Leagues O’Toole (Foggy Notions), Nadine O’Regan (Sunday Business Post and Phantom 105.2) and Jon Richards (Galway Bay FM).

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Nominations for the Irish Blog Awards are set to close at 9pm on Friday January 18th, so this is just a quick reminder of the fact that we'd be very appreciative if anyone felt us worthy of a nomination. We promise to respond with much love and adulation.

You can nominate here, and can fill in as many or as few categories as you want (but before you go ahead and do the obvious, remember that it's forbidden to nominate the same blog for every category... ahem).

The awards will (possibly) be held on the 23rd of February.

Thanks for your support!

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Nialler9 has started compiling votes for his Irish Album & Irish EP of the year poll.

Album-wise my main nods would go to Kill City Defectors & Delorentos. It's been a damned good year for EP's, so the competition is stiff: Fight Like Apes (both great, but I'll go for the first one), Adebisi Shank, Terrordactyl.... but I'm convinced that the best is yet to come, with the BATS release just around the corner.

Place your votes here.

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So the Meteor Award nominees for 2007 have been announced, so we all have our annual chance to gripe at how shit they are.

Granted there are some worthy noms in there, but as usual the folk in charge would prefer to fill up a category with the same old 'established acts' from every other year rather than do a bit of digging for worthwhile entrants. So we see the usual suspects on the list- Andrea Corr, Glen Hansard, Aslan, Dolores O’Riordan, Paddy Casey, Bell X1 etc. Not a Phantom DJ to be seen, which is just ridiculous. The inclusion of Brian McFadden makes me snigger. Tee Hee.

On the other hand- good to see Fight Like Apes up there, hopefully the best band category will be fought out between themselves and Delorentos. And nice to see Cathy Davey getting a few nods too, I'd imagine she'll pick up something.

Didn't there used to be a 'best new band' category, or something of the sort?

Gripes aside, at least there's no U2 in there this year.

Apparently you can vote here, but I can't get it to work.

Here are the noms in full:

Best National DJ
Ray D’Arcy - Todayfm
Ian Dempsey - Todayfm
Tom Dunne – Todayfm
Dave Fanning – RTE Radio 1
Ray Foley - Todayfm
Rick O’Shea – 2fm

Best Regional DJ
Pete Casey - Shannonside
Keith Cunningham - Red FM
Leigh Doyle – Beat FM
Joe & Keith – Spin 103.8
Mark Noble - FM104
Jon Richards – Galway Bay FM

Best Irish Band
Ash
Aslan
Fight Like Apes
Delorentos
The Flaws
Future Kings of Spain

Best Irish Male
Paddy Casey
Damien Dempsey
Duke Special
Glen Hansard
Dave Geraghty
Declan O’Rourke

Best Irish Female
Andrea Corr
Cathy Davey
Maria Doyle Kennedy
Roisin Murphy
Sinead O’Connor
Dolores O’Riordan

Best Irish Pop Act
Bell X1
The Blizzards
The Coronas
Brian McFadden
Roisin Murphy
Westlife

Best Irish Album
Paddy Casey - Addicted to Company
Cathy Davey - Tales of Silversleeve
Delorentos – In Love with Detail
The Flaws – Achieving Vagueness
Future Kings of Spain Nervousystem
David Geraghty – Kill Your Darlings

Best Irish Live Performance
Bell X1 - Malahide Castle
The Blizzards - Oxegen
Duke Special - Vicar Street
Fight Like Apes – Whelans
Future Kings of Spain - Village
Damien Rice - Marlay Park

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