Mystery solved. It sure looked odd when the Golden Globes displayed so much love for gay cowboy pic “Brokeback Mountain” (noms in 7 of 11 categories) but none for poor cowpoke Jake Gyllenhaal.

Turns out that the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. qualification committee insisted on putting Jake in the lead-actor race instead of supporting, which is the category he’s campaigning for at the Oscars and other kudos.

The contest for best drama actor was so packed this year that the Globes couldn’t find room for Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence), Tommy Lee Jones (Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada), Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener), Jonathan Rhys Myers (Match Point) or Eric Bana (Munich) either.

With so many great leads to choose from, it seems the category couldn’t squeeze in a supporting star — regardless of how much they love him in his Stetson and chaps.

Clarkson has had an amazing year. And furthermore, an amazing 5 years. To be 24 and already have two multiplatinum albums, and have been on 4 sold out tours is something any budding artist would envy. But with her most recent album, Breakaway, that has now been certified 4 times platinum, Clarkson has not only conquered the American public, but now the critics as well. Music critics who with her first album said that she was very talented but that “Thankful” was her 15 minutes of fame are now put to shame now that her second LP, “Breakaway” has not only sold almost twice the amount of records than her first album, but has garnered much critical acclaim.

On December 5, “Breakaway” it’s 52 week run in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 Chart. She’s one of only four artists in Sound Scan history to debut in the Top 20 and stay there for a year straight, and is the first artist in over 5 years to accomplish this.

“Breakaway” is quadruple-platinum in Australia, triple-platinum in Canada, double-platinum in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and platinum in Ireland, South Africa, Singapore and Indonesia.

The album’s first four singles have all reached No. 1 in America. The title song, “Breakaway,” was the first hit, followed by “Since U Been Gone,” “Behind These Hazel Eyes” and “Because of You.” Radio cannot get enough of Kelly Clarkson. The singles from “Breakaway” already account for 2.5 million digital downloads sold.

Kelly has two MTV Latin Awards nominations, for Best International Artist and Best International Pop Artist. She also had a staggering 12 nominations for the Billboard Music Awards, including Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Hot 100 Female Artist, Pop 100 Artist of the Year, Pop 100 Female Artist, Pop 100 Single (”Since U Been Gone”), Pop 100 Airplay Single (”Since U Been Gone”), The Billboard 200 Female Artist, Hot Digital Track Artist, Hot Digital Track (”Since U Been Gone”), Hot Dance Radio Airplay Artist, Adult Top 40 Artist and Top Soundtrack Single (”Breakaway”). Kelly also has five nominations for the Radio Music Awards, including Artist of the Year, Adult Hit Radio; Artist of the Year, Mainstream Hit Radio; Song of the Year, Adult Hit Radio (”Breakaway”); Song of the Year, Mainstream Hit Radio (”Behind These Hazel Eyes”) and Song of the Year, Mainstream Hit Radio (”Since U Been Gone”). Looking ahead to 2006, Kelly has been nominated as Favorite Female Performer for the People’s Choice Awards. And has been nominated for two Grammy awards: Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Kelly Clarkson has really begun to make her mark on Pop Music, and after four Number One singles on the Top 40 charts including a record-tiyng 21 week run at Number One on the Adult Contemporary Charts for her title track “Breakaway”. Her next single, set to be released to radio January 17, “Walk Away”, is already getting loads of radio spins. Looks like she’s got her 5th number one in the works–and maybe another year in the top 20.

Don’t forget us little people, Kelly, when your album sells 8 million.

Kelly’s Wikipedia Page

Kelly Clarkson’s Official Website

Ultimatekc.com

Kckellyville.com

Out in Hollywood there are many actors that I admire. Many. And when it comes to black actors, not only do I admire the great ones, but I cheer them on because they’re breaking down boundaries and jumping over brick walls that wanna keep them playing junkies, dead beat dads, and “the help”. Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith, Alfre Woodard, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Angela Bassett–to name a few–are all wonderful talents and their gifts should be revered. Why is it though, that some actors are taking buckets of glory for simply, after years of playing unchallenging and boring roles, act, are they recgonized as if they’ve gone above and beyond?

Angela Basset’s performance in What’s Love Got To Do With It?…brilliant. Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Kimberly Elise in Set It Off…riveting. Denzel in, well, everything ever…amazing. So many good performances. Why is it, then…that a black actress finally wins the Academy Award for Best Actress, and it’s pretty-faced shit for talent Halle Berry? “Can you make me feel good? Can you make me feeel gooood?! CAN YOU MAKE ME FEEL GOOOOOD?!”, she growls. No, Halle, I can’t, but I’m sure that Oscar sure did.

What film has this woman ever been in that has impressed people? Let’s look at her Filmography.

Jungle Fever
-Random crackhead. Congrats, you’re an actress.

The Flinstones
-You know you’ve made it big when Barney Rubble loves your work.

Losing Isaiah
-Crackhead again. Well shit. Where’s the academy when you need ‘em?

Executive Decision
-Effective performance here in a pretty general blockbuster kind of herione role. Nothing to brag about.

The Rich Man’s WifeRemember this film? Me neither.

B.A.P.S.
-This performance, although it gave me a chuckle, was nothing more than what Brett Ratner could get out of LaShawntae Jackson selling herself in East Harlem after an acting lesson or two.

Bulworth
-If the most anyone remembers from one of your films is you dancing with Warren Beatty and sticking out your tongue, you know you’re in for a Razzie.

Why Do Fools Fall In Love?
-What a waste of Vivica A. Fox’s talent. What a waste of America’s time watching Halle embarass herself on screen once more. Wait…you can’t waste America’s time if America doesn’t care to GO SEE THE FILM. BOMB. Yet again.

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
-I must give Berry her props here. This movie and her performance in it was actually pretty good. If only good acting wasn’t a one time gig.

X-Men
-And here’s where I rant. X-Men, being my favorite comic-book franchise ever, was an excellent film, and X2 was even better. But there’s one problem…where’s Ororo Monroe, or as most people know her, Storm? I’ve watched both movies many times and still haven’t found her, even after playing a few games of “Where’s Wald–er–Storm?”. Berry doesn’t attempt an accent, or a voice for the character, doesn’t read into any of the subtext, and plays her like a weak, prissy, damsel who is all sex and no bite or bark. Storm is the one of the frickin’ leaders of the X-Men, Halle! Storm is strong, Storm is passionate, Storm is powerful. Maybe you would’ve found that out had you picked up even one issue of any of the X-Men series, watched any episodes of the 90s television cartoon, or talked to any devout fan of the franchise. Good going, Halle. I smell a Golden Globe.

Swordfish
-Iiiiiiii’ve got saggy tits! That’s all I, or anyone else I know thinks of when referring to Halle in this campy film.

Monster’s Ball
-And now we arrive at it:Monster’s Ball. Yes, this is a pretty good film, and yes Halle Berry’s performance is effective. But effective is far from excellent. Dear Jesus, Halle took off her make-up and spread her legs (literally. No really…she literally spreads her legs and moans in the much buzzed about explicit sex scene in this film)–let’s give her a statue! I am appalled and disgusted that Halle won an Oscar for this film. And I know what you’re all thinking. “Who are you? The Academy obviously liked the performance, so shut the eff up.” But here’s my theory. I really don’t think she won the Oscar for this movie based solely on performance (though I know, this is the case a lot). I truly think her win for this film was more political than anything. I feel like the Academy felt like it was finally time for a black woman to win Best Actress, and Halle happened to let a few sunspots show on camera just at the right time for it to happen. Denzel and Halle win in the same night, it’ll shut those racism accusations up for another 5 years. What a disgrace.

What do you all think about Halle’s win, her performance in X-Men and Monster’s Ball, and what other performances do you think were awarded that shouldn’t have been. Tell me about all the Oscar Injustices.

P.S. Halle had better be glad I never got to Catwoman

Two nights ago, Randall Pinkett, the clear front runner on the show from the beginning of the season, ran away with the title of “The Apprentice” for season 4. All season, Randall has gained the admiration and respect from all of the people he has worked with on the show, Trump, George and Carolyn, as well as all of the viewers at home.

He reminded me a lot of Kwame. Both VERY educated black men with quiet confidendce that were great leaders and had no enemies. Even towards the end of the 2 hour live finale (only the 2nd hour was live) we started to see most of the past Apprentice candidates vouch for Randall, supporting him as Donald Trump’s choice as “The Apprentice”. Particularly Alla, who for some reason seemed to have some serious beef with Rebecca, who she absolutely threw under the bus when asked to choose between the two remaining finalists.

What was so great about this finale was that you wanted to root for both Randall and Rebecca. They were both very qualified candidates, and they both SEEMED to be very nice, respectful people with morals and consciences, and furthermore, throughout the whole process, especially because they had worked together a few times, they seemed to have become friends. Well I guess I thought wrong. Seconds after Donald Trump respectfully crowned Randall Pinkett his new Apprentice, Donald asked Randall if he thought he should hire Rebecca as well. All of us at home, knowing what a great guy Randall was, just KNEW he was going to answer yes, and poor hard working Rebecca with her half-broken ankle would rejoice, and there’d be a big happy ending, accounting for one of the best Apprentice finales. But to my shock and apparently everyone else’s, Randall sold her out. He told Donald there there can only be ONE Apprentice and there are no “Apprenti” as he put it.

Uh…correct me if I’m wrong, Randall…but aren’t you Apprentice #4?

The Golden Globe nominations were announced earlier this week and let me say, I’m very happy with most of the nominations and am delighted that the Hollywood Foreign Press has finally started to honor the films that are actually GOOD rather than just the films that make a lot of money.

In the major categories, I would like to see who people think should win and who will win. Here are the categories and nominees for everyone to see–post a comment telling who should and who will win for each. My choices for who should win are in bold, my choices for who will win are in caps. Some are in bold and caps–which mean I think they should and will win.

Some have two choices bolded, meaning I think both equally deserve it, as in the case of Ledger and Hoffman who give flawless performances in Brokeback Mountain and Capote, respectively.

Best Drama

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Match Point

*Brokeback Mountain has gotten almost unanimous critical acclaim, and its subject matter, though many think is a handicap, actually elevates it. It’s a lock.

Best Musical or Comedy

The Producers

WALK THE LINE

*This is the problem with putting these biopics that have music in in the Musical category. Heavy, serious dramas will almost always prevail over comedies. Walk The Line is an almost sure win here. The Squid and the Whale is a dark horse to win.

Best Actor in a Drama

Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Capote

HEATH LEDGER - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Terrence Howard - Hustle and Flow

Russell Crowe - Cinderella Man

David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck

*The Best Actor in a Drama category is probably the most robust category of them all this year. These are all great performances, with Ledger and Hoffman leading the pack in critical acclaim. It’s going to be a close race between Ledger and Hoffman, but ultimately the power of Brokeback Mountain will allow Ledger to prevail.

Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy

JOAQUIN PHOENIX - WALK THE LINE

Jeff Daniels - The Squid and the Whale

Nathan Lane - The Producers

Cilian Murphy - Breakfast on Pluto

Pierce Brosnan - The Matador

*This is a no-brainer. Phoenix’s movie has gotten not only the most critical acclaim, but has performed the best at the Box Office.

Best Actress in a Drama

FELICITY HUFFMAN - TRANSAMERICA

Maria Bello - A History of Violence

Charlize Theron - North Country

Gwyneth Paltrow - Proof

Ziyi Zhang - Memoirs of a Geisha

*Seems as if the HFPA was digging the bottom of the barrel this year for this category. Maria Bello’s performance was hardly leading and c’mon…Ziyi Zhang in Memoirs of a Geisha? I have a feeling the HFPA will give Huffman the award here instead of for Housewives, even though Theron’s performance was just as good as her monster of a performance in Monster. We’ll have to wait and see.

Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy

Laura Linney - The Squid and the Whale

REESE WITHERSPOON - WALK THE LINE

Judi Dench - Mrs. Henderson Presents

Keira Knightley - Pride and Prejudice

Sarah Jessica Parker - The Family Stone

*I personally would love to see Laura Linney finally get her due, but this just isn’t her year. Witherspoon’s performance is too widely acclaimed for her to walk away empty-handed this year.

Best Director

Woody Allen - Match Point

ANG LEE - Brokeback Mountain

George Clooney - Good Night, and Good Luck

Steven Spielberg - Munich

Peter Jackson - King Kong

Fernando Meirelles - The Constant Gardener

*It’s for sure. Hands down. No questions asked.

Best Television Drama Series

Commander In Chief

Grey’s Anatomy

LOST

Prison Break

Rome

*All the nominees in this category really are worthy this year, but I think Lost’s Blockbuster ratings status will take it to the finish line first.

Best Television Comedy Series

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

My Name Is Earl

Curb Your Enthusiasm

*Again, another category with a lot of worthy nominees. But ultimately, there’s no taking down the Housewives phenomenon. (Not at the commerciality hungry Golden Globes anyway)

Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama Series

Patrick Dempsey - Grey’s Anatomy

Matthew Fox - Lost

HUGH LAURIE - HOUSE

Wentworth Miller - Prison Break

Kiefer Sutherland - 24

*Kiefer Sutherland’s got his due before, Hugh Laurie deserves a win this year. Though Lost is excellent, it will never be recognized for its individual acting–it’s too much of an ensemble show.

Best Lead Actor in a Television Comedy Series

ZACH BRAFF - SCRUBS

Steve Carrell - The Office

Jason Lee - My Name Is Earl

Charlie Sheen - Two and a Half Men

Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm

*Zach Braff has been overlooked at the Emmys and the Globes for entirely too long. Though Braff and Lee are worthy, Lee should just be happy with knowing his career is now bigger than campy comedies from the late 90s.

Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama Series

Patricia Arquette - Medium

GLENN CLOSE - THE SHIELD

Geena Davis - Commander In Chief

Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer

Polly Walker - Rome

*Though I would absolutely love to see Patricia Arquette win in this category, as she did at the Emmys, or the brilliant Kyra Sedgwick win for her record breaking show The Closer, the Globes are gonna wanna give it to the bigger star.

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

MARCIA CROSS - DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

Teri Hatcher - Desperate Housewives

Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives

Eva Longoria - Desperate Housewives

Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds

*Marcia Cross SHOULD have won last year, but Hatcher’s star-power took precedence over Cross’ stunning performances last season. It’s possible Felicity Huffman might win due to her Emmy win and her double nomination.

At this point in the Oscar race, there’s really no chance that Brokeback Mountain isn’t going to dominate that nominations. I had the pleasure of seeing the movie at an advanced screening on Thursday night, and it was phenomenal. It’s honestly one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. This year’s Oscar race is really starting to heat up with the Fall/Winter movies and a few movies and performances are way in the lead.

Heath Ledger’s performance in Brokeback Mountain was honestly heart-wrenching. His last line, at the end of the film, “Jack, I swear” really will go down in history as an Oscar-winning line because after seeing this movie, I honestly don’t see how it could go to anyone else. This is such a breakthrough role for Ledger, and with having so many previous flops (critically and commercially), I’m sure he’s thrilled with how hailed this performance has been.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s performance in Capote has been getting Oscar buzz from the minute it came out. Hoffman was the early front runner after the critics screeened the movie I saw it a month or so ago, and the movie was great, but his performance was even better. It was so odd because the movie seemed to be pretty long, and it was moving kind of slow, but I didn’t even notice. You cannot take your eyes off Hoffman in this movie. Ever. His is the most surefire nomination, but unlikely win up against Ledger and Phoenix.

Walk The Line is probably one the best biopics I’ve ever seen and it can be almost solely attributed to the stellar acting by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. There were so many points during the film when I couldn’t even tell that Phoenix wasn’t Johnny Cash–which partly can be attributed to the fact that they do slightly look alike–but mostly to Phoenix’s amazing, emotional, and riveting performance.

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