• He’s tied with Mitt Romney for first in one poll and ahead of Rick Perry in another. Months ago, Herman Cain‘s presidential campaign seemed like something of an underdog, with many people unaware of the former pizza chain executive. Now, with multiple straw-poll wins under his belt, the non-politician is within shouting distance of the lead. RealClearPolitics has him in third place, but if you take out the two oldest polls listed, he rises to second, ahead of Rick Perry, thanks in part to consistent poll numbers and Perry’s own faltering of late. Cain’s worth watching, suddenly. Wow. (photo via Gage Skidmore) source

• nine number of nominations for “Avatar,” the James Cameron megahit that’s already in record territory
• nine number of nominations for “The Hurt Locker,” the war film directed by his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow

Other major nominees

• eight nominations for Quentin Tarantino’s Nazi-killin’ “Inglorious Basterds”
• six nominations for “Up In The Air,” the George Clooney airline flick
• six nominations for “Precious,” including one for the usually-funny Mo’Nique

Best Picture changes

• This year is a weird year for the Best Picture nominees. Rather than the usual five nominations, the Academy has switched to ten, widening the field to the point that the types of movies that never get nominated somehow did this time around, including:

• pixar “Up” got a nomination, finally validating the consistent levels of commendation the 3D animators get.
• sci-fi “District 9” got four nominations, including one for Best Picture – not bad for a director’s first movie.
• popular “The Blind Side,” which had garnered praise for Sandra Bullock’s performance, got one too. Wow. Surprising.

Who got burned this time?

• » The well-reviewed Jeff Bridges/Maggie Gyllenhaal flick “Crazy Heart” got nominations for the stars (and for best song – we called it!), but not for Best Picture.
• » Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” got just one nomination (for Colin Firth’s performance), despite the crazy level of arthouse hype it got. The Coen Brothers’ “A Serious Man,” however, did get a Best Picture nomination, which (despite their recent Best Picture win) is somewhat surprising.
• » “The Lovely Bones” scored just one acting nomination – that’s to be expected, as it wasn’t a critical hit – but it didn’t get anything for its fairly solid visual effects, which really sold the film. Peter Jackson did produce “District 9,” however. source

• one “Family Guy” got nominated for “Outstanding Comedy Series,” despite the fact animated series never get nominated in that category.
• two “Flight of the Conchords” got nominated in that category, too, and Jemaine Clement was nominated for “Lead Actor in a Comedy.”
• three Finally, the brash Sarah Silverman unexpectedly got a nomination for “Lead Actress in a Comedy” for “The Sarah Silverman Program.” Go comedy! source

• The mis-seeded The whole killer Big East thing came at the cost of at least two killer No. 2 seeds, Duke and Memphis. Both won their conference finals and both are noted programs with long histories. But they only got a 2 seed. WTF, selection committee?
• The slighted St. Mary’s, San Diego State and Penn State did pretty good this season yet didn’t make the dance. St. Mary’s only lost six games but were done in by a harsh loss to Gonzaga in their conference final. Now they get the chance for NIT, uh, glory.
• The surprisesSyracuse got a fairly high 3 seed after proving its awesomeness in the Big East tourney, and Arizona made its 25th straight tourney despite having a pretty mediocre record. Essentially, Arizona best not run into St. Mary’s in a dark alleyway. source