77th Academy Awards

I could on length about how much I love Clint Eastwood, who had himself a grand night; how much I love Martin Scorsese, who was cruelly snubbed for the fifth time in his brilliant career; how much I love Charlie Kaufman, whose genius was recognized by the Academy for the first time. But I'll leave all that for now.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed tonight was that Best Actor winner Jamie Foxx may not even have been the best black nominee in his category! He was the popular choice for sure, and his momentum gained considerable steam with Ray Charles' recent passing. But many critics have argued in favor of Don Cheadle's performance in Hotel Rwanda. How often is it that you get one black actor nominated in this category, let alone two? Has it ever happened before? How much rarer must it be that one could be the clear popular vote (and eventual winner) and the other the apparent critics' darling? I'm just saying...white people had no chance this year. [Insert Flava Flav's "Yeah, boy!"]

The biggest kick I get out of tonight's Best Actor award is imagining all the future trailers that will announce "...and Academy Award winner for Best Actor, Jamie Foxx." C'mon, I know you all still remember him as one of the young bucks on "In Living Color" who'd disappeared afterward along with everyone not named Wayan. Well, he didn't quite disappear, but he had a show on the WB and that's just about the same thing. Now the guy's going to be able to command top dollar for his work. How times change...

I don't know how Foxx pulled it off but he's unquestionably become a world-class actor now. We're talking about a guy who starred in Booty Call! But in the years since that debacle of debauchery, accomplished performances in Ali, Redemption, Collateral, and Ray have proven his worth as a dramatic actor; B-list comedian will he be no more. Let's hope he can parlay this into great opportunities for himself and other black Americans better than Halle Berry did. Looking at Foxx's filmography, he might want to stick to movies with one-word titles...