I just had to share this bit of information from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science about a significant rule change to future awards ceremonies, starting with the 81st Academy Awards.

From now on, no more than two songs per film can be nominated for Best Original Song (though, there will continue to be no limit on the submission of songs per film for consideration).

The Oscars are like a second Superbowl for me — I see as many movies as I can see, I print out a ballot, make picks, watch with others, compete, the whole sad, pathetic dance — and from time-to-time, some things really piss me off, as is what happened with this past event. I know that there’s A LOT of very stupid choices made pretty much every year; huge snubs, popular-over-quality selections and so on, but it’s still the damn Oscars and the best thing out there for rewarding the very best, so I do my own personal best to just look past all the B.S. and enjoy what I can, but this particular scenario really bugged me.

Best Original Song.

You probably already know where I’m headin’ with this.

In this category, there were five nominees — Once, August Rush, Enchanted, Enchanted, oh, and let us not forget, Enchanted.

Three out of five nominations to a fairly forgettable movie whose songs were quite whiny and annoying. I could see maybe one of them getting a nomination, but three? I may be a little biased with the fact that Once was one of my favorites of the year, but the very worst song on the Once soundtrack was far-and-away better than anything on the Enchanted soundtrack. Thankfully there was justice in its one song ultimately winning the Oscar. I did not see August Rush, so I can’t judge that one, but at least it was one of the two lucky enough to snag a spot. I also didn’t see Into the Wild, but from what I heard, Eddie Vedder had a few strong offerings with that one and they got nothing due the un-matched brilliance of Enchanted‘s musical numbers.

As you can tell, this all irked me a bit. It also happened with Dreamgirls getting three out of the five nominations, but at least they had real songs with people who can really sing, not some squeaky Disney princess chirping one out.

Well, this will not happen again, thanks to the Academy’s new two-song maximum per film rule. While I still think it should be one per movie so anyone who deserves it can get their chance, this is definitely better and hopefully it will delete some future snubs!

Academy Award nominations in all categories will be announced on January 22, 2009. The 81st Academy Awards presentation will be telecast live by the ABC Television Network on Sunday, February 22, 2009.