Memories from a busy awards show season...

It's a bit of a crazy day today as I rush to finish two stories for the paper then get ready to head to the Shrine Auditorium for the 40th Annual NAACP Image Awards. I'll be blogging from there tonight and have a full report by morning. In the meantime, I wanted to share some photos and memories from my experiences during awards season so far.
GRAMMY AWARDS

If you want to feel incredibly average looking, then pose for a photo with Cameron Mathison. Still, I have no regrets! The sexy "All My Children" star was at the awards as a correspondent for "Good Morning America." He's so motivated and energetic that it seems like Cameron needs at least two jobs going at once as we learned from he flew across the country each week during his successful stint on "Dancing With the Stars."

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At the Grammys, chatted up this trio of friendly guys: The Daylights. Twin brothers Ran Jackson and Ricky Jackson were at the Grammys for the first time with their bandmate Svend Lerche. Ran looks a bit like Sawyer on ABC's "Lost" while Ricky is a bit of a cleaner-cut version. Both adorable.

The gospel-roick group After Edmond caught my eye on the red carpet because of their wild hairstyles. When they came over, I was shocked to find out they are gospel singers! I told them they looked much too edgy and cool to be in this genre.

Kathy Griffin, who didn't have time to chat with me, had ALL the time in the world for Ross Mathews. Whatever.

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DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARDS
That's your faithful blogger with Dustin Lance Black who was at the DGAs to lend support to "Milk" director Gus Van Sant. A week later, Lance won the WGA award for best original screenplay and has a good chance of taking home the Oscar on Feb. 22. Here's hoping!

Lucky me with 2009 Academy Award nominee Melissa Leo who will compete with Meryl Streep, Kate Winslett, Anne Hathaway and Angelina Jolie for the coveted prize on Oscar night. Melissa is nominated for "Frozen River."

My pal Lorna Harris was a wonderful date to the DGA dinner. We've had so many adventures over the years from taking in matches on centre court of Wimbledon 17 years ago to rubbing elbows with celebs at the DGAs. Good times.

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES LUNCHEON
It was fun hanging out with Sandy Cohen, entertainment writer for Associated Press and Stacy Jenel Smith, longtime writer for the Marilyn Beck column. Stacy got to sit next to Robert Downey Jr. at lunch.

Director Danny Boyle had reason to be in a good mood. Just two days earlier, he had won the DGA Award for "Slumdog Millionaire." Might as well engrave that Oscar for him now.