Oscar buzz

So, now that the Grammy hoopla is all said and done, the countdown to this year's Oscars can begin. I won't comment too much about the Grammy's simply because I was disappointed and I don't care to dwell on the negative. Instead, I would like to look toward the future with optimism. [10-second time out: Did anyone else feel robbed by A.Keys' absence?]

I am delighted to know that Mo'Nique and Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe have both been nominated for their roles in Precious. I'm so thrilled for both women. Mo'Nique has been sweeping through the awards circuit and I'm hopeful that her jaw-dropping performance will be awarded the highest of honors. Gabby has been nominated with no wins as yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. Not only that, but the Precious has been nominated for "Best Picture" (along with nine other films, but I won't get into how I feel about the expansion of this category) which is beyond fabulous. Director Lee Daniels must be on cloud-9 these days.

This is a bit of a side-bar to the wonderful news above... So many times a phenomenal film of mostly African-American actors will "take the country by storm" and spark a discussion on race, the lack of work for black actors and "what this film will do" for black actors. We saw it with Dreamgirls a few years ago, I'm sure there was the same buzz surrounding The Color Purple. Precious is no different, but instead of just color this time around, we are all a buzz about how this movie will change the face of the leading lady. Will she no longer have to be fair-skinned and thin or a sexy Latina? We'd all like to believe that things will change. My God, with a black First Family, we all wanted to believe that SOMEthing would change. I'm sad to say that, honestly, I believe that not much has changed at all.

In any case, I'll be tuning into the 82nd Annual Academy Awards show on Sunday, March 7th and I hope you will be too.

NEXT!

Oscar photo taken from i.ehow.com