Going into the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, I knew that we were probably going to have to play the game called “Can You Find the Black Folks?”. And because Halle and Denzel were among the missing and last year’s nominees (Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis) weren’t there either, sisters in particular were in short supply. Thanks goodness  CCH Pounder and Zoe Saldana of “Avatar” were there along with all of the sisters from “Precious”. While Oprah and Forest Whitaker raised the percentage of black people that actually took the stage with their introductions of Gabourey Sidibe and Sandra Bullock in the Best Actress category. Anyway, besides “The Hurt Locker” taking Best Picture honors, there weren’t many surprises (at least when it came to who actually won awards). Read the full story

Well this time we can believe the hype about “Precious: Based On the Novel Push by Sapphire,” The movie has actually earned six, count ‘em six, Academy Award nominations. Not bad, not bad at all—especially for a movie many thought no one would see. It’s no surprise that Mo’Nique got a nod for her role as the immensely disturbing character, Mary Jones. She’s been racking up the statuettes for Best Supporting Actress in every award show leading up to the Oscars and it would be a shock if she didn’t win. (However, with the members of the Academy you never know.) But the fame isn’t going to her head as evidenced by her greeting to Matt Lauer and the “Today Show” hosts this morning in which she called him ‘baby’ or somesuch. However, she gets big points for saying, “I’m celebrating this moment with the world. I’m celebrating this moment with Hattie McDaniel.” (McDaniel was the first Black woman to take home the prize in 1939 and the only other two sisters to win have been Whoopi Goldberg in 1990 and Jennifer Hudson four years ago.) Read the full story