GOSSIP ROUNDUP: ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINEES

Giiirl, guess who woke up at 1am, today, to visit the offices of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (whew, I just ran out of breath)?  Yep, yours truly!  Today, the Academy announced the nominees for the Oscars and the whole shebang started at 3:30 a.m. with a scrumptious breakfast for all media. 

(en.terra.com)

I, of course, went to the event looking fierce, honey (dressed to the nine); but to my disappointment many others didn’t seem to care how they looked.  They might as well have just ROLLED out of bed.

I had a spectacular time at the breakfast; one of the kind servers (who was Latino) even said he had chipotle sauce for me-mmmm hmmm!  You know-to add some spice to my huevos…scrambled huevos, that is. 

While there, I saw ALL of my favorite entertainment reporters from E!, Extra, and even Entertainment Tonight: Canada-ey!  LOL!

So there were two types of passes to enter the theater where the event took place: one for early admittance (5:00 a.m.) and the other for regular (5:30 a.m.) 

(Getty Images)

Well let me tell you, Giuliana Rancic (above), host of E! News, walked straight through the rest of the “regular” press and rushed into the theater.  Girlfriend had her hair a bit messy, which I thought was kind of strange.  Lo and behold, just minutes before going live on air, two people were working on her hair and makeup-simultaneously.  TALK ABOUT DIVALICIOUS!

The funniest part of all was when Extra’s reporter, Jerry Penacoli (above, left), wanted to interview Academy President, Sid Ganis (above, right).  Unfortunately TV Azteca’s reporter (our partners, of course-LOL), was using Extra’s spotlight so that he wouldn’t look dark on camera.  Jerry, being the gentleman that he is, didn’t put up a fuss and just delayed the interview.  You’re one of a kind, J, that's why we love you!

(en.terra.com)

Dennis (D): The Latino community is very excited about Penelope Cruz’s nomination.  What can you tell us about that?

Sid (S):  Well, for one thing she did an absolutely amazing job in her movie, of course, which is why she’s nominated. 

D: Were you surprised?

S: Was I surprised?  I was pleased. I’m not surprised these days.  I’m surprised in the sense that I know it’s always going to be a wide range of movies and movie artists and it’s never quite predictable, so therefore I wasn’t surprised.  I was really pleased to see it.  I loved the movie, personally, and I loved her performance in the movie and the other performances in the movie as well.  Good movie.

D:  I’ve been hearing a lot of stuff about the presenters for this show and I know you spoke about Hugh Jackman being on the show.

S: He’s the host-yeah-Hugh Jackman is the host…WOLVERINE IS THE HOST!  Only I’d never say that to the press-oh my God-I think I just did.  (smiles)

D: As far as other celebrity presenters who will be appearing on the show, is that still being kept a secret?

S: Yeah, we’re just not going to be talking about it now.  We have some good ideas involving the presenters so we’re just going to keep it quiet. 

D: As far as the nominees go, who are your favorites?

S: I couldn’t tell you that because the likelihood is I’ll be voting for my favorites and I send a letter to all Academy members saying: “Now don’t forget, keep your votes to yourself.”  So I have to heed my own warning and keep my votes to myself.

D: Anything else you’d like to share with us about the upcoming Academy Awards show?

S:  Oh, I’m happy.  I hope that the Latin American audience tunes in.  There’s going to be good reason for them to tune in. 

Allrighty, guys, that's it for this edition of the Gossip Roundup.  Special thanks to everyone at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their wonderful attention and congratulations to all the nominees!  Stay tuned for more...