Oscar Noms

The list is here.

Best picture nominees are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire—not a single one of which centers primarily on a female character,* and only one of which centers primarily on a gay character (Milk) and only one of which centers primarily on people of color (Slumdog Millionaire).

There were no female producers on any of the five best picture nominees, and no women were nominated for Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Makeup, or Best Visual Effects. Only one woman was nominated in each screenplay category: Robin Swicord (with a male partner) in Best Adapted Screenplay for Benjamin Button and Courtney Hunt in Best Original Screenplay for Frozen River.

There is not a single woman of color nominated in the Best Actress category. Viola Davis and Taraji P. Henson, both African-American actresses, were nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

There is not a single man of color nominated in either the Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor categories—though Robert Downey, Jr. was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Tropic Thunder in which he plays a white actor appearing in blackface.

There is not a single openly gay woman or man in any acting category, though the straight Sean Penn was nominated for playing an iconic gay man, Harvey Milk.

There are no men of color nominated for Best Director.

For being the Most Liberal Place on Earth^TM, Hollywood sure is conservative.

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* Though Kate Winslet is nominated for Best Actress in The Reader, it should be noted that she was nominated for—and won—a Golden Globe in the supporting actress category for that film, and there's a reason for that: She plays a key character in the life of the leading male character; even in its own promotional materials, the film suggests Winslet's character is Someone Who Was Important in the Life of the Male Protagonist.