photo by Nate "Igor" Smith

The Gregory Brothers at the Village Voice Web Awards in December 2010

Among the rusty Web 2.0 jokes, Anne Hathaway's cornball hooting, and all the precious air Oprah breathed, there were a few redeeming aspects to last night's Oscars. Coincidentally (or not?), they tended to have local ties. Staten Island's PS22 Chorus, "the only remotely competent performers at the Oscars." Pom-pom-headed Luke Matheny, who gave a resolutely human acceptance speech and shouted out NYU. And "The Year's Unintentional Musicals," a minute-and-a-half digital montage of AutoTuned scenes from Harry Potter, Toy Story 3, The Social Network, and Twilight--the latter, a deeply amusing riff on Taylor Lautner's perpetual toplessness called "He Doesn't Own a Shirt." Behind this spot were Brooklyn's very own Auto-Tune the News Guys, the Gregory Brothers (Andrew, Michael, Evan, and Sarah), who all watched the show last night at home, drinking champagne, and snapping pictures of the TV screen with their phones--you would too.

We caught up with three of them this afternoon, amid the telephonic chaos of moving offices, to talk about working with the Oscar producers, Ron Weasley as a booty-jam balladeer, and what should have won Best Picture of the Year.

Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart

Bad Blake, the main character in Crazy Heart, played onscreen by Jeff Bridges, embodies the ugly side of the glorified outlaw-country lifestyle. He's a stone-cold drunk. He's been an absent father to his son, who's now grown and wants nothing to do with him. And he's jealous of the success of his musical partner in crime, Tommy Sweet, who he considers a sellout now that Sweet is playing mainstream country. But all of this changes, and 57-year-old Bad finally grows up, when he falls for small-town journalist Jean Craddock and her adorable little son.

This road-to-redemption story is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb. Cobb wrote the book under the tutelage of postmodernist Donald Barthelme, borrowing from his own experiences covering country for a music magazine in the '80s. Were it not for Barthelme, Cobb says, the book "never would have seen the light of day," and Cobb would have never been prompted to break Bad's ankle halfway through the story.

Just as this was not a good idea, this is also not a good idea.

Oscar Changes Things Up By Nominating 10 For Best Picture [The Wrap]