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"  This has got to be the most self-satisfying exercise in fame since, well, I guess last week in Oslo: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has spewed out its annual Golden Globe nominations (full list here), and they&amp;#039;re about as bloated as the list of Tiger Woods mistresses. Not only has the woman who became a star because she could drive a bus for about $10 million less than Julia Roberts been nominated twice, but Julia \u2014 bless her \u2014 got a best-actress nod for a film even she admitted belonged to her co-star. This is to say nothing of Dame Meryl, who alone is chewing up forty percent of a single category. And that&amp;#039;s the problem, really: The big award shows have too many superlative categories to honor those who are least honorable. The most prestigious prizes in our culture now exist to prop up existing prestige, rather than to bestow it. This is not competition, and this is not reward. This is not how you acknowledge fine art. You want to turn Carey Mulligan into the great actress of our time? Then don&amp;#039;t lump her with the co-star of a great football book adapted into Thanksgiving-weekend family schmaltz. You want to reward Rob Marshall for trying to out-mindfuck Fellini? Don&amp;#039;t banish him to a best-picture race otherwise occupied by a food blogger, a bachelor party, two hipsters, and Alec Baldwin in his PJs. Not that Marshall&amp;#039;s Nine should have any trouble finding its way toward the Oscar finalist pool, what with the Academy expanding the penultimate category to ten nominees this year. Make no mistake: The shift has nothing to do with recognition, and everything to do with appeasing the studios. You know, so when their megabuck show bonies turn out to be utter box-office failures, they can still slap BEST PICTURE NOMINEE on the DVD cover. Meanwhile, Germany&amp;#039;s The White Ribbon \u2014 probably the most stark, haunting film I&amp;#039;ve seen since, let&amp;#039;s see, definitely not Crash \u2014 gets banished to the &amp;quot;foreign&amp;quot; pile like a terrorism suspect, and Up \u2014 the animated heartstring pull of the year, Avatar be damned \u2014 probably succumbs to Wes Anderson&amp;#039;s showpiece of showpieces. So here&amp;#039;s a radical suggestion: Instead of adding superfluous categories and nominations, the Foreign Press Association should do what it does best \u2014 lead by example \u2014 and eliminate its musical-or-comedy caveat in the film categories. (Because, really, the TV comedy is a shorter, cheaper, and more promiscuous beast than its cinematic counterpart.) It need look no further than its own just-created, single-genre competition for supporting actor as proof: three of the finest actors of the last fifty years, Woody Harrelson, and the guy who should probably win \u2014 no Meryl Streep allowed. What could be more satisfying than that? RELATED LINKS:  Who Won Our 2009 Alternative Oscars? Inside the Secret History of Oscar Speeches PLUS: Oscar Snubs Galore ULTIMATE LIST: The 75 Movies Every Man Should See "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a6845/golden-globe-nominations-2010-121509/>