Looking to make their song a bit more family-friendly for this Sunday's Academy Awards, members of Three Six Mafia transformed "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" into something millions of people can watch without writing letter upon letter to ABC.

The signature song from Hustle and Flow will mark the first ever rap-performance at the Oscars, though all the curses have been removed. However (and thank Jesus for this one), the word "bitches" will be allowed. While I find it hysterical that a song about pimps will be rapped to some of the richest and whitest folks in America, something tells me that, even with this warning, ABC and the Academy will still face a nasty backlash...especially if it wins Best Song. Oh, my fingers are certainly crossed.

And speaking of a backlash and the people that contribute towards one, FamilyMediaGuide.com has compiled a list of the Oscar nominated films that carry the most curse words. Coming in at number one this year is Crash with 182 expletives, including 99 F-bombs. Everyone's favorite gay cowboy flick Brokeback Mountain came in second with 92 naughty phrases and Munich slid into third with only 22.

For the first time in the history of the Academy Awards show, a rap song will be performed during the show's telecast. This was a surprise to me, because I could have sworn Eminem performed "Lose Yourself" when it was nominated, but apparently that was just me hallucinating. This year, several members of the rap group Three 6 Mafia - Jordan "Juicy J" Houston, Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard and Darnell "Crunchy Black" Carlton - will perform Beauregard and Houston's nominated song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp", from Hustle and Flow. I can't wait to see whoever is presenting the award say that song title while trying to keep a straight face.

 

Remember that whole pact the Sundance programmers made to de-glitz this year's line-up? It looks like what the films might lack in terms of big-name headliners, the juries will pick up the slack. Thomas Vinterberg, Lars Von Trier's founding partner in Dogme 95 and the director of Dear Wendy, one of the most revilied films at last year's fest, will lead a World Cinema jury also including chinese filmmaker Lu Chan, and Locarno Film Festival head Irene Bignardi. Alexander Payne, who won an Oscar last year for writing Sideways, will sit at the center of this year's Documentary jury, flanked by fellow Oscar winner Zana "Born into Brothels" Briski, editor/frequent Werner Herzog collaborator Joe Bini, and producer Heather Rae. The Dramatic Competition jury is equally noteworthy: Good Girl director Miguel Arteta will join Terrence Howard, whose work in Hustle and Flow was last year's Sundance sensation and will very likely earn the actor his first Oscar nomination, and Alan Rudolph, the Robert Altman protege who has unfortunately not graced us with a picture since 2003's very good The Secret Lives of Dentists. Less familiar names on the same list include cinematographer Nancy Schreiber (whose most notable IMDB feature credit is Blair Witch 2) and Audrey Wells, a screenwriter-for-hire and the director of Under the Tuscan Sun.