Awards Watch: ALMA Awards

The nominations for the 2008 ALMA Awards, recognizing "the outstanding artistic achievements of Latinos in motion pictures, television and music", have been announced.

Special achievement awards will be given to the cast of Ugly Betty, High School Musical 2 director Kenny Ortega and the Spanish language film Under the Same Moon. Other television nominees include Desperate Housewives' Ricardo Chavira, Lost's Jorge Garcia and Grey’s Anatomy's Sara Ramirez, while movie nominations went to Bella, El Cantante, Illegal Tender, Love in the Time of Cholera and Tortilla Heaven.

The 2008 Alma Awards, hosted by Eva Longoria Parker and Cristian De La Fuente, will be broadcast September 12 on ABC.

Awards Watch: Emmy Nominations 2008

The 2008 Emmy Award nominations were announced today, which means: time to start complaining. Seriously, Two and a Half Men, one of the least original "comedies" on TV today, instead of the brilliantly creative Pushing Daisies, the revitalized Desperate Housewives and the one and only Ugly Betty? Boston Legal, again? At least Lost returned to the Best Drama line-up.

Nevertheless, some of our favorites did make the cut, including Daisies' Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth, Betty's America Ferrera and Vanessa Williams, Housewives' Polly Bergen and Kathryn Joosten, Brothers & Sisters' Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths, Lost's Michael Emerson and Grey's Anatomy's Diahann Carroll, Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson.

Also among the nominees include out actors Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon, plus the TV movies Bernard and Doris (along with stars Ralph Fiennes and Susan Sarandon), A Raisin in the Sun (and its stars Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald, who both won Tonys for the Broadway production) and High School Musical 2 and the specials Movies Rock, Company, AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition and the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

The Emmys will be presented live on ABC on Sunday September 21.

Out in Film: Alec Mapa

Idol worship: Alec Mapa, actor/comedian.

- As "America's Gaysian Sweetheart" (self-proclaimed), he is a multi-talented actor of stage and screen and a very very funny comedian, who is also an advocate for several GLBT and Asian American causes.

- Remember R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" video? He was the boy tied to a tree with an arrow piercing his heart. Talk about your show biz debut!

- In addition to his own stand-up specials, he co-starred in the short-lived, based-on-Kiss Me, Guido sitcom Some of My Best Friends Are. Other television appearances include recurring roles on Desperate Housewives (as Vern, Gabrielle's gay pal) and Ugly Betty (as fabulous fashionista Suzuki St. Pierre); he also recently hosted LOGO's reality/dating show Transamerican Love Story.

- At the movies, he has had small but memorable roles in Bright Lights, Big City; Connie and Carla; Dirty Laundry; You Don't Mess with the Zohan and current festival fave Tru Loved.

- It has been an eventful week for him: not only did he just celebrate a birthday, he is being honored by the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival tonight as their "2008 Entertainer of the Year". Get her.

Desperately Seeking Closure

Desperate Housewives will conclude its revitalized fourth season tomorrow night (which will include the addition of Queer as Folk icon Gale Harold to the cast), so to keep all the Wisteria Lane action alive over the long hot summer, here is the Madame Alexander Desperate Housewives Doll Collection.

Yes, you too can recreate all the juicy gossip and homemaker intrigue of the popular nighttime soap with 16" recreations of Lynette, Gabrielle, Edie, Susan and Bree. And although I'm sure you would want him, tragically, there is no Mike Delfino doll.

Click Here for Official ABC Merchandise and to Shop the Desperate Housewives store!

MD Poll: Desperate Measures

Proving that perfectionism does pay off, Bree Van De Kamp Hodge (played to, well, perfection by Marcia Cross) was easily voted the favorite of the Desperate Housewives in the latest MD Poll, with over one-third of the votes. (Boy, first the Founders' Day Award and now this; Bree has had quite the week.)

As for the Desperate husbands, the race was a little tighter, but hunky new hubby Mike Delfino (James Denton), Wisteria Lane's resident plumber, was able to wrench (ouch) away victory in the end.

See the comments section below for the full stats, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

MD Poll: Desperate Times

In celebration of this Sunday's return of Desperate Housewives on ABC, this week's MD Poll asks you to not only name your favorite lady from Wisteria Lane, but also your favorite desperate husband as well.

So be sure to vote in both polls, located in the sidebar to your right, and tune back in right here in two weeks (same time, same channel) for the final results.

In the meantime, here's a handy-dandy refresher (courtesy of Televisionista) of all the mysterious goings on over at the Mayfair house to get you up to speed in time for this weekend's first post-strike episode.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed, click here for the results. And to vote in the latest MD Poll, click here.