Sean Penn, James Franco and Dustin Lance Black earn Spirit Award nods for "Milk"

Good morning. Well, I'm recovering from a bout with the 36-hour flu (so annoying!) but managed to get over to Sofitel, L.A in Beverly Hills for the announcements of Film Independent's Spirit Awards this morning and live to tell about it.

But enougn about me.

I'm pleased to let you know that James Franco got nominated in the best supporting male category for his wonderful performance in "Milk." Well-deserved. Then there is Sean Penn, nominated - as expected - for best lead actor. Sean's performance is so astonishingly good that I think they should hand him the Spirit Award and the Golden Globe and the SAG Award and, of course, the Oscar, right now!
Sandra Oh and Jason Bateman were on hand to make the announcements and I gotta say, my favorite moment of the morning was when Dustin Lance Black's name was announced as a nominee for best first screenplay. What he accomplished is amazing and he did it on his own with total dedication and faith. So glad it paid off for Dustin (pictured on set with director Gus Van Sant.

I was disappointed, however, to see that Van Sant was shut out of the best director category and once that happened, I figured best picture odds were lousy. I was right: "Milk" was passed over in the best picture category in favor of these five films: "Ballast," "Frozen River," "Rachel Getting Married," Wendy and Lucy," and "The Wrestler."

ALSO: I almost forget to mention that "Milk" got four Spirit nods overall as Harris Savides was nominated for best cinematography.