The People's Choice Awards are expecting a record number of voters this year because everyone is still hopped up on the power of change from the U.S. presidential election. CBS is going to one-up that election though, because, once again, they're giving us a queen — Queen Latifah to be exact. She'll be returning to host the 35th annual awards on CBS this January. Plus, she's nominated as Favorite Leading Lady.

The People's Choice Awards are so much better than the Oscars or the Emmys, because who is the Academy or the Foreign Press or whoever it is that movie and TV stars are always thanking? The People's Choice Awards are voted on by the me and you, and the categories are much more fun than a one of those tepid awards shows.

Check out some of this year's nominees:

Favorite Leading Lady: Anne Hathaway, Kate Hudson and Queen Latifah

Favorite TV Diva: Mary Louise-Parker, Kyra Sedgwick and Holly Hunter

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How's this for hip-hop royalty news: None other than Queen Latifah is set to release a new album in December — and she actually raps on it. After focusing on acting (and garnering an Oscar nomination for her efforts in 2002's Chicago) and releasing two well-received collections of pop standards (2004's The Dana Owens Album and 2007's Trav'lin’ Light) it seems that the Queen is ready to get back in the game for the first time in more than a decade. (Yes, Order in the Court came out in the summer of 1998!)

Queen Latifah grew up in Newark, N.J., and got into hip-hop as a teenager, beat boxing with the group Ladies Fresh. She went on to emcee with Flavor Unit, through which DJ Mark the 45 King heard her song "Princess of the Posse." He passed a demo on to Fab Five Freddy, host of Yo! MTV Raps, who helped Latifah sign with Tommy Boy Records and release her debut All Hail the Queen in 1989, when she was only 19. The rest is a Grammy-studded stroll down the Hollywood Walk of Fame (on which she was the first hip-hop artist to get a star).

Queen Latifah recently told RollingStone.com that she almost decided to call the upcoming and still-untitled project The L Word, "Just to mess with people's heads." Hmm. I'll just leave that one alone. … continue reading

Tina Fey was back on Saturday Night Live tonight to play VP candidate Sarah Palin in a spoof of this week's 2008 vice-presidential debate. Jason Sudeikis played Joe Biden, and Queen Latifah played moderator Gwen Ifill.

Watch it here if you haven't seen it yet (or hop over to NBC.com to watch in full screen):

I didn't find this skit nearly as funny as SNL's first two Palin parodies (watch them here and here), but the debate didn't leave the writers much to work with.

The skit did manage to capture the gist of the event, though, and included some very funny moments — like Fake Biden's constant referral to John McCain as a close friend, and his frequent references to being from Scranton, PA. (Did anyone else visualize Michael from The Office every time he mentioned Scranton?) Fake Palin's repeated use of the word "maverick" in this skit, complete with drinking game reference, was fantastically spot on.

I especially loved that SNL made a point to skewer both candidates on how they handled the gay marriage question. … continue reading

The trailer for the film adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees was just released, and like the book, it looks like the kind of story that will stir the pants right off your soul.

The Secret Life of Bees follows Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) who — along with her stand-in mother, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) — escapes from her abusive father, and takes up with three beekeeping sisters (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo) in a pink house in Tiburon, South Carolina.

Let me do that math for you: Queen Latifah, Oscar nominee; Sophie Okonedo, Oscar nominee; Jennifer Hudson, Oscar winner; Alicia Keys, rock-em-sock-em talent; Dakota Fanning, best child actress since Jodie Foster. … continue reading

This week, the Retro Reviewers ponder a life of crime and bad mob accents in their review of Set It Off.

The film stars several powerhouse African-American actresses, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Kimberly Elise and Vivica Fox. It also has plenty of girl-power, guns-blazing, bank-robbing action.

Next episode, the ladies will take on Bound.

AE reader GustavChristoff has kindly transcribed the episode for our hearing impaired readers.

Kristen Johnson, who was so wild and fun and larger than life on 3rd Rock from the Sun, is the latest Hollywood star to go all Skeletor skinny. These pictures of Johnson recently at a PETA event made my heart drop. Johnson told everyone who asked – oh, and they asked, because in Hollywood everyone is as preoccupied with your weight as you are – that she dropped 60 POUNDS. Sixty! From a body that didn’t look like it needed to drop weight.

I know I shouldn’t get emotional about someone else’s weight loss and by now we all know that the people in Hollywood have different ideas about what an adult women’s physique should look like, but, wow, haven’t we learned anything? When three out of the five Spice Girls – a group all about female empowerment – have discussed their struggles with eating disorders, you gotta step back and wonder, should we all go to therapy together? Like, as a group?

In just the last few years I’ve watched ladies who started their careers looking fine become suddenly reduced to their smallest terms. Where is the rest of Christina Ricci nowadays? What happened to the Brittany Murphy who was so wonderfully bodacious and real in Clueless? Both are Hollywood ‘bots now, sleek and too skinny. (And P.S., both are Italian like me, so I can’t imagine how hard they are working to stay so tiny).

The first time I saw America Ferrera, I thought to myself, “Unbelievable. Hollywood has let in someone who is beautiful, ethnic, and bootylicious.” But the latest pictures I have seen of America the Beautiful have me ruing the fact that she, too, is getting smaller and smaller.

I know the reasoning behind this. I know what producers say. They say the camera adds weight. Thinner women look better onscreen, which really makes me wonder how skinny the Olsen Twins are in real life if they look so scary small in paparazzi shots. … continue reading

It’s that time of year again. Now celebrating its 22nd birthday, the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival will screen at the British Film Institute on London’s South Bank from March 27 to April 10, offering queer-themed shorts, documentaries, and feature films from around the world.

The Chinese Botanist's Daughter

You can view a complete list of the films on offer here. Among the ones reviewed or mentioned by AfterEllen.com are the romantic tragedy The Chinese Botanist’s Daughter (pictured above), the American TV pilot Don’t Go featuring Guinevere Turner, and the Oscar-winning short documentary Freeheld, about the fight of dying lesbian policewoman Laurel Hester to see her pension go to her partner Stacie Andree.

There’s also the Taiwanese romance Spider Lilies, the German drama Vivere, the French coming-of-age film Water Lilies, and the South African period romance The World Unseen.

The World Unseen

There’s the 1996 American documentary It’s Elementary — Talking About Gay Issues in School, and its 2007 follow-up, It’s STILL Elementary — The Movie and the Movement. And there’s the HBO film Life Support, starring Queen Latifah as an HIV-positive charity worker (although unfortunately her character isn’t a lesbian).

A program titled "The Face of Another: Imagining Lesbian Desire" offers a chance to see Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring fall in love in Mulholland Dr. It also includes films that explore female relationships but are not so overtly lesbian-themed, like Ingmar Bergman’s Persona and the Madonna–Rosanna Arquette flick Desperately Seeking Susan. … continue reading

Olivia Wilde is going to play Jack Black’s love interest in the new biblical-times comedy The Year One. I am going to let the full weight of that news sink in while you stare at a picture of Olivia. Please, take your time. I’ll wait.

And, for comparison, here is Jack Black.

OK, now side by side.

So, yeah, what’s wrong with this picture? God, could there be a better example of the schlubby guy/hottie girl formula that has become the on-screen Hollywood couple du jour? I’ve railed (and railed) against these pairings for what seems like forever now. It’s not just the aesthetic that bothers me. Heaven knows a book is more, so much more, than its cover. But it’s the inequity of this equation that infuriates me. Where are the schlubby girl/hottie guy movies? And, since we’re dreaming big, how about the schlubby girl/hottie girl flicks? … continue reading

Tonight at 8:00, tune in to Fox for the 39th NAACP Image Awards telecast. This year, the theme is "Stand Up and Be Counted." According to the press release,

During this crucial election year, the NAACP encourages everyone to be socially conscious and take a stand on critical human and civil rights issues.

Wouldn't it be nice if every awards show encouraged such things? Susan Sarandon always gets played off when she tries to be political on the Oscars, and Kanye West was barely allowed to remember his mom on the Grammys this year.

Here are some of the nominees:

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
CCH Pounder (The Shield)
Jennifer Beals (The L Word)
Nicki Micheaux (Lincoln Heights)
Regina Taylor (The Unit)
Wendy Davis (Army Wives)

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty)
Golden Brooks (Girlfriends)
Tia Mowry (The Game)
Tichina Arnold (Everybody Hates Chris)
Tracee Ellis Ross (Girlfriends)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Audra McDonald (Private Practice)
Chandra Wilson (Grey's Anatomy)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Without a Trace)
Pam Grier (The L Word)
S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order)

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I didn't watch all of the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards broadcast last night. Actually, I forgot it was on. I guess I find it difficult to get excited about movies like There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men — which, as Jamie recently pointed out, might as well be called No Movie for Women at All.

But I think I caught the best moments anyway. First, Tina Fey won for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.

She was self-effacing and adorable as usual. Here's her acceptance speech, in which she calls herself the "hat rack" to Alec Baldwin's Fred Astaire: … continue reading

The writers' strike certainly made an impact on the Golden Globe Awards this year. No glitz, no glamour, no stars, no oops-Christine-Lahti-is-in-the-bathroom moments. Shots of the red carpet were replaced by shots of those red-and-black WGA picket signs. But, as cohost (and pinhead) Billy Bush noted, the winners still deserved recognition, so some sort of show had to go on. Here are some highlights of last night's Golden Globes Winners Special on NBC. (Images are from the press conference rather than the broadcast, but you get the idea.)

MOVIES

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Actress, Drama: Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Best Actor, Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Picture, Comedy or Musical: Sweeney Todd
Best Picture, Drama: Atonement
Best Director: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

TELEVISION

Best Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, Damages
Best Actress, Comedy: Tina Fey, 30 Rock … continue reading

The Golden Globes have been canceled, but the the writers’ strike didn’t prevent the live broadcast of the Critics' Choice Awards from pressing on last night. But the strike it did have its effects. Many winners noted that they were speaking off the cuff because they wanted to respect the strike and did not write speeches.

Host D.L. Hughley’s commentary was incredibly awkward, and it seemed that all his jokes were about race. Probably the oddest comment of the night for me came when Hughley dubbed Brad Pitt an “honorary black person” for seemingly no reason. And several times Hughley told the crowd that they needed to lighten up and laugh once in a while.

Despite that, there were many bright spots during the evening. For one, it seemed that every two minutes Pitt and AfterEllen.com’s No. 2 hottie, Angelina Jolie, were on the screen, looking just as fabulous as ever.

Additionally, there were some fantastic female winners throughout the evening.

Nikki Blonsky, breakout star of Hairspray, won the award for Best Young Actress.

Blonsky shared the award for Best Acting Ensemble with the rest of the Hairspray cast, which includes Queen Latifah (AfterEllen.com Hot 100 No. 55), Amanda Bynes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Allison Janney, Brittany Snow and, of course, John Travolta in drag. … continue reading

Queen Latifah hosts the 34th annual People's Choice Awards tonight at 9/8c on CBS.

Ellen DeGeneres and Jodie Foster are among the nominees, as are lots of other AfterEllen.com favorites. Three categories are still open for voting.

Sure, it's no Golden Globes, but I'm already in take-what-I-can-get mode in these days of striking writers!

As a bestseller about "the divine power of women and the transforming power of love," it was only a matter of time before Sue Monk Kidd's debut novel The Secret Life of Bees made its way to the big screen. But, still smarting from too many adaptation debacles to count (The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood comes to mind), I wouldn't have very much cared — until yesterday's Variety report about casting. With Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Sophie Okonedo signed and Alicia Keys in talks, I'm setting aside my $11 now.

Dakota Fanning is due to star as teenaged protagonist Lily, but that doesn't interest me so much (apparently nobody has yet followed Sarah's advice and convinced her that she need not portray every precocious young girl). Nope, I'm all about this somewhat random but potentially quite satisfying group of non-adolescent stars: Hudson as Lily's nanny and friend Rosaleen, and Latifah, Keys and Okonedo as the Boatwright sisters. I'm also all about the fact that Gina Prince-Bythewood will be at the helm, using her own based-on-the-book script. Since the Love and Basketball writer-director is responsible for one of the greatest moments in female sports movies but has only done a modest amount of work since, much of it on TV, I'm eager to see her in charge of a major release. … continue reading