'Precious' Gets Six Oscar Nominations

One of the things I love to do I go to my local multiplex and watch my fave movies when they come out. The last one I've had a chance to see was the Lee Daniels directed film 'Precious' and it's making some movie and Black history of its own.

'Precious' was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Lee Daniels became only the second African-American director to garner a Best Director nod (John Singleton was the last for 1991's 'Boyz In The Hood'). 'Precious' also holds the distinction of being the first African-American directed film in the 82 year history of the Oscars to be nominated for Best Picture.

"After 82 years, it's the first film nominated for best picture directed by an African-American," Daniels said. "Isn't that great? It's so exciting."

Lee Daniels wasn't the only one getting Oscar kudos. The movie was based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire, and also earned a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.

Gabourey Sidibe earned a Best Actress nomination in her debut film, and Mo'Nique is up for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'Precious' as well.

In addition to 'Precious' six nominations, Morgan Freeman received a Best Actor nomination for playing Nelson Mandela in 'Invictus', and Disney received a Best Animated Feature nomination for 'The Princess And the Frog'

Hmm. Looks like I'll have multiple reasons to watch the Oscars March 7 telecast this year.

TVOne To Begin Broadcasting 'A Different World'

Since I have yet to see and I'm still waiting for Seasons 2-6 of A Different World to be sold on DVD, (and for that matter Seasons 2-6 of Living Single), I was glad to hear that TVOne will start broadcasting tonight my favorite show at 10-11 PM Eastern and 1-2 AM Eastern Time.

I own Season One and I've already expressed myself about how I felt about it. (it sucked). I deal with those episodes until the Debbie Allen produced ones start showing up in Season 2.

At any rate, glad to see it's back on the air.

Now if we A Different World fans could get the opportunity to buy the DVD's for our favorite show.

Why Did I Get Married?

I'm a movie junkie, and this is one I'm definitely looking forward to seeing when it hits my local multiplex on its projected release date of October 12.

Tyler Perry returns in front of a camera for the first time since Madea's Family Reunion, but you won't see Tyler's pistol packing alter ego in this story adapted for the big screen from the hit play of the same name.

Why Did I Get Married? stars an ensemble cast that in addition to Perry, includes Janet Jackson, Malik Yoba, Jill Scott, Sharon Leal, Tasha Smith, Michael Jai White, Denise Boutte and Lamann Rucker.

Hmm. That's worth the price of admission and a large buttered popcorn alone. ;)

Why Did I Get Married? is the story about how difficult it is to maintain a solid loving relationship in modern times. It revolves around a group of eight married college friends who have gathered for their annual reunion in the snow-capped mountains of Colorado.


They discover that infidelity has creeped into one couple's marriage. It triggers a series of events over the reunion weekend in which secrets are revealed and they question how valid and solid their own marriages are. Both the husbands and wives also take hard looks at their own lives during this weekend as well.



This looks like another Tyler Perry hit. The trailers are already on The Net and I'll definitely be sitting in the front row next month happily munching my popcorn.

Nichelle Nichols

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

photos-Nichelle Nichols in 2004, as Lt Uhura, the EBONY magazine cover, Dr. Mae Jemison, Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan, the christening of the Space Shuttle Enterprise

Nichelle Nichols in addition to being a trailblazing actress has been an inspiration for people of my generation and subsequent ones to not only follow their dreams, but reach for the stars.

She was born in Robbins, IL as Grace Nichols on December 28, 1932, just outside Chicago. She toured the Unites States, Canada and Europe with the Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington bands. She appeared in a Chicago production of Carmen Jones before she moved west and had her fateful meeting with Gene Roddenberry. Before casting her as Lt. Nyota Upenda Uhura on Star Trek, she'd worked as a guest actress on Roddenberry's first television series The Lieutenant.

As we Trekkies all know, it was Star Trek that made her a historical icon, launched her life into a new direction and sharpened her interest in space exploration.

But she almost quit the show. Frustrated during the first season over what she perceived as playing just a glorified telephone operator, she was ready to hang up the Starfleet uniform until she ran into Dr. Martin Luther King at a civil rights rally. Dr. King was a huge Star Trek fan and urged her not to quit. He pointed out to her that she was the first African-American actress who was on a network TV show playing a non-stereotypical role.

According to Nichols, he told her "Don't you know you have the first non-stereotypical role in television? For the first time the world will see us as we should be seen -- people of quality in the future. You created a role with dignity and beauty and grace and intelligence. You're not just a role model for our children, but for people who don't look like us to see us for the first time as equals."

She stayed and later made television history with the first interracial kiss on TV with costar William Shatner. She costarred in the six subsequent Star Trek movies and eventually her character was promoted to Commander.

Once Star Trek ended, she worked for NASA in the 70's and early 80's as part of a program to not only encourage African-American youth to consider math and science careers but recruit women and minority astronauts for NASA. She recruited Dr. Sally K. Ride, US Air Force Col. Guion Bluford (the first African-American in space), Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ron McNair, who flew missions before both were killed in the 1986 Challenger disaster. The essay contest I won in 8th grade in which I earned a trip to NASA was part of that program.

And like other issues that Dr. King was prescient on, he was on target in terms of Nichols being a role model to African-American children and others. She was the inspiration for another Chicago girl who grew up to become the first African-American woman in space, Dr. Mae C. Jemison. She also inspired a New York City girl by the name of Caryn Elaine Johnson to shoot for an entertainment career after seeing her on Star Trek. Caryn Elaine Johnson would not only accomplish that goal, but would have a recurring role herself on Star Trek-The Next Generation as Guinan.

Nichols is considered part of the NASA family. She flew aboard NASA's C-141 Astronomy Observatory on its eight hour high altitude mission to analyze the atmospheres of Mars and Saturn. She was present along with her Star Trek castmates when the first space shuttle Enterprise was christened and was a guest of the Jet Propulsion Lab when Viking 1 soft landed on Mars on July 17, 1976. She has written two science-fiction novels about a tough black woman in space, Saturn's Child and its sequel, Saturna's Quest and is working on a third. She has since the mid 80's sat on the Board of Governors for the National Space Society.

So if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting her like I did back in the mid 70's, check out this multi-talented and passionate ambassador for space exploration.

Live long and prosper, Nichelle.

Raven!

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

Back during the heyday of The Cosby Show I used to enjoy seeing this adorably precocious three year old who played Olivia Kendall. She went by the name of Raven-Symone and it never failed that when she was in a scene, she was usually stealing it. She was a Ford Model at the ripe old age of 2 with numerous television commercials to her credit when she auditioned for a role in the Cosby produced Ghost Dad. She was too young for that part, but was cast on the Cosby Show instead.

For a while it seemed as though she disappeared off our TV sets once Hanging With Mr. Cooper ended its run on ABC. Just as I began to wonder what was going on in her life she popped up in the 1998 Disney remake of Dr. Doolittle and a 2003 Disney Channel TV show called That's So Raven. I began watching it after Debbie Allen started directing it. As of this writing it is the Disney Channel's highest rated and longest running show. Raven's also blossomed into a very attractive young woman since her Cosby Show days.

Today Raven-Symone Christina Pearman is what Ebony magazine recently described in their March 2007 issue that she was on the cover of as the $400 million dollar woman. She is a multi-talented entertainer who has graced various Disney productions, a six time NAACP Image Award winning actress and has also won two Nickelodeon Kids Choice awards. You can hear her voice on various Disney cartoons such as Kim Possible (one of my guilty pleasures), see her sing and dance in The Cheetah Girls movies and hear her sing on various CDs, including her own solo efforts.

Not bad for someone who's 21 years old.

The thing I'm impressed with about Raven is that she went to public school in the ATL area during that time period. She seems pretty down to earth about much of what she's achieved as well. She's cognizant of being considered a role model and proud that she's one of the few African-American Disney stars. Raven's also proud that she's a 'thick' sista with curves. The fact that she's a young African-American woman doing it in Hollywood makes me even prouder of the little girl I first watched on the tube back in 1989.

She's gradually moving toward doing more serious roles and was one of the many peeps who auditioned for the role of Effie in the Dreamgirls remake. I have no doubts that one of these days Raven will be gracing the silver screens in a movie that doesn't have a Disney logo all over it.

Happy Birthday Jasmine Guy!

One of my favorite quadruple threats was born on this date in 1964.

I fell in love with Jasmine when she played Hillman's diva princess Whitley Gilbert on NBC's A Different World. But that wasn't her first time in the limelight. She's been performing on stage and screen for over 20 years as a dancer, actress, and singer.

Jasmine was a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and danced in the TV pilot and on the show Fame with Debbie Allen. In addition to doing Broadway and dance theater, she's appeared in the movies Harlem Nights, Klash, and one of my fave Spike Lee movies School Daze. She also played Velma Kelly in the touring production of Chicago.

She also done television since A Different World with roles and guest spots on Showtime's Dead Like Me, NYPD Blue, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Touched By an Angel , The Parkers and That's So Raven.

You can also call Jasmine an author. She penned the book 'Evolution of a Revolutionary', the story and spiriitual journey of Afeni Shakur. For those of you who are wondering who she is, you've probably heard of her son Tupac.

Jasmine these days is happily married and has a daughter. I'm looking forward to checking out her next multimedia project.

Vanessa L. Williams

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-trans women who have qualities that I admire.

I remember that September 1983 morning that I woke up, opened up the Chronicle and read the story about Vanessa Lynn Willams becoming the first African-American to win the Miss America crown.

It along with the Miss Black America, Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants were my favorites to watch back in the day. I got more than a little fed up about the gorgeous sistahs who had graced the Miss USA, Miss America and Miss Universe pageant stages over the years who sometimes didn't even make it to the twelve semifinalist phase of the pageant. Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad and Tobago broke through in 1977 to becme the first woman of African descent to win Miss Universe, so I did hold out hope that a sistah would eventually do the same here in the States.

That year she and Suzette Charles made it to the five finalists but for some reason I turned the TV off and went to bed mumbling to myself, "They're gonna end up third and fourth runners-up." I was happy to see the picture of Vanessa eating breakfast in bed while I ate a Texas-sized portion of crow. (For the record, the first runner-up was Suzette Charles)

She goes from that lofty height of being Miss America 1984 to tragically having her crown stripped before her historic reign was about to end. After holding that press conference resigning the crown, many people wrote her off.

In 1988 I was driving home from work and was jamming to a brand new song being played on Majic 102 called 'The Right Stuff'. When the DJ annnounced that it was Vanessa Williams I was blown away.

Vanessa still has it going on. She oozes style and class. She's had the right stuff for years. She's done hit movies, Broadway, television and recorded hit albums. She's nominated for numerous awards, won a Grammy and NAACP Image Awards. Vanessa turned a moment that would have broken some people into a triumphant career that makes her arguably the most successful Miss America ever. I still laugh when I read the story about the prophetic birth announcement her parents issued when she was born March 18, 1963 that stated 'Here She Is, Miss America.'

As you can tell, I'm proud of her and I'm still a fan. She's on my short list of artists who if they release a CD I don't insist on listening to it before I buy it. I just simply snap it up and take it home. I have the same reaction to any movie or television show that she's involved in. I'd heard about 'Ugly Betty', but once I found out she was part of the show's cast it's Must See TV for moi.

One of the lessons I take from her life is never give up on your dreams no matter what obstacles are placed in your path. Keep fighting for them and they will happen.

Jayne Kennedy

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

When I was struggling with my gender issues in the late 70's. I was lamenting the last minute teen growth spurt that pushed my height over six feet. I was mumbling to myself that 'real women aren't this tall.'

Enter 5 foot 10 inch Jayne Kennedy. She was the first sistah to win the Miss Ohio title in 1970. In the Miss USA Pageant that year she was one of the ten semifinalists for the crown. She was a Jet Beauty pinup and made a few movies with her then-hubby Leon Isaac Kennedy before landing the job that would change the way that NFL pregame shows were done.

Not long after she was hired to do CBS NFL pregame show 'The NFL Today' in 1978, we had the honor of having Jayne visit my high school during my senior year in February 1980. I was already a big fan of hers prior to this trip and her performance on the NFL Today not only opened doors for her but for a host of other women sportscasters such as Robin Roberts and Pam Oliver at FOX.

Jayne has since gotten remarried, become a born again Christian and is a devoted mother. She's still as gorgeous as ever. She's one of the women that helped me see the point that Dr. Collier Cole drove home to me when I was first beginning my transition.

Women come in all shapes and sizes.