Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

I think I'll say a few words about the nominees for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards: they're surprisingly decent, if not great. [Though I wonder just when it was MTV actually aired all these nominated clips, but that's another matter entirely.] The mere fact that Johnny Cash's phenomenal "Hurt" is up for Video of the Year blows me away. [Here's the story behind the video.] And God, how great would it be if he won? Do you think he'll attend? Talk about a career renaissance. Of course, I'm also happy to see Missy leading the pack with 8 nods for "Work It" (Cash got 6, and J-Tim got 7 combined for both "Cry Me A River" and "Rock Your Body"). My fear, however, is that this'll turn into one of these years like - well, 2001 comes to mind, when "Get Ur Freak On" and Fatboy Slim's "Weapon Of Choice" were both up for Video of the Year, only to lose to the Whores "R" Us, a/k/a "Lady Marmalade." With Eminem and 50 Cent both receiving 5 nods (apparently, the "M" in MTV stands for a certain rapper from Detroit who's won Video of the Year 2 of the past 3 years), could this be a year of "thanks for coming, don't you appreciate how progressive we are? Now, we'll give all the awards to a 4-minute trailer for 8 Mile"? As a song, "Lose Yourself" is amazing and career-defining. As a video, it's a snooze. We'll find out at the end of August, I guess - but there's still reason to watch. Chris Rock is hosting! Rawk!