Jose here. Remember how last year the Academy got rid of the Best Original Song performances and in the process denied us the chance to drool at Marion Cotillard's sexy striptease and, eventual winner, Ryan Bingham's dreamy, country sensitivity?
Well, this year they won't deny us the pleasure of making fun of the corny staging for the song contenders (though they dared to deny us the presence of Cher!) and they've brought back the performances in an all-star lineup set to include Oscar winners Randy Newman and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Newman will perform "We Belong Together" (sadly not the epic Mariah ballad) from Toy Story 3, while Paltrow will sing "Coming Home" from Country Strong. Gwyn has a big month ahead and is also set to perform at the Grammys this weekend where she will duet with Cee-lo Green and, wait for this, The Muppets... The music academy is probably terrified Cee-lo and G.Pa will let out one of the infamous expletives in "Fuck You" and are using the Muppets as some sort of insurance. But in a time when Lady Gaga wears Kermit for cocktails isn't it safe to say that no puppets are sacred?
Joining Gwyn and Randy will be Mandy Moore and Alan Menken who will perform "I See the Light" from Tangled and Oscar winner A.R. Rahman and Florence Welch, filling in for Dido, to sing "If I Rise" from 127 Hours.
If there's someone who can bring some life into that tepid song it has got to be Florence (at least her gown is sure to be a sight to behold)
Also, now that I think about it, we have Newman, Rahman, Gwyn and Menken. So, wait, is this the first time an all Oscar winning lineup of performers will do the nominated songs? I'm sure there's a random Oscar statistic here waiting to happen. Can anyone think of another year when that happened?