The 2009 Soul Train Awards were full of surprises -- of the smooching variety, that is.

The show began with Trey Songz and Toni Braxton puckering up during their performance of 'Yesterday.' Co-hosts Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson then celebrated their 'Hustle & Flow' reunion with some major (faux?) spit-swapping.

Not that it was necessary for Taraji to wow the audience. She did a dead-on impression of Diana Ross in a Motown tribute and she and Terrence impressed with their singing abilities.

No doubt aware of industry buzz that Mo'Nique is sure to score an Oscar nomination for her role in 'Precious' as the title character's abusive mother, Terrence Howard offers a bit of helpful advice to the actress and talk show host during an interview on 'The Mo'Nique Show.'

Howard, who was nominated for his role in 'Hustle and Flow,' had this to say on receiving the nomination itself: "You'll be sitting there in front of that television pretending to sleep, and at 5:15 when they mention your name, tears will roll out of your eyes ... and you'll sit there and you'll pray that you are not dreaming."

Watch the video after the jump.

I told you not long ago that Wordplay, the documentary about New York Times Crossword editor Will Shortz and his annual crossword competition would air as part of the PBS series Independent Lens on October 16. It turns out it's also the very first documentary of the series' sixth season.

Other documentaries will include An Unreasonable Man, the popular 2006 documentary about presidential candidate and consumer advocate Ralph Nader; Banished, which tells the story of how some small towns expelled their black communities; King Corn, about two college students who grow their own food to challenge big agri-business; Miss Navajo, which centers on a unique Native American beauty pageant; Iron Ladies of Liberia focuses on the first head of state in Africa; Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita, about a neurologist trying to find a cure for his paralyzed daughter; and Please Vote for Me, a documentary from China about three eight year old students running for "class monitor."

Today's Oprah – actually, I think it was a repeat - featured the entire cast of Paul Haggis' Crash (which Oprah, as she reminded us ad nauseum, "looooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvved") talking about racism. I tuned in late (all the better to misinterpret out of context, my pretties), but I caught an ... um ... interesting segment about  linguistics.

When I turned the TV on, Oprah and Don Cheadle were talking over, and almost yelling at, each other. Apparently they were right in the middle of an intense debate over the proper use of the "N Word". Then Terrence Howard (who, the cynics amongst us will point out, is campaigning for Oscar nods on at least 2 performances and, as such, probably wants to be seen as Nice Guy) tells Oprah that he's decided to stop using it; Cheadle vehemently explains why he's opposed to pressuring people into limiting their linguistic choices. As if to bully him into breaking the tie for her side, Oprah turns to Ludacris. "Cris, would you consider not using The Word?" Visibly uncomfortable., Luda smiles. "Uh, I feel the same way Don does about it." Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Sandra Bullock pipes up:

"As long as we're going to stop using words," she says (and I'm totally paraphrasing), "Can we stop with the bitch and the ho, for women?"

The crowd goes wild. Completely silent during the previous portion of the conversation, all of a sudden there are 200 mild-mannered housewives gone wild, hooting and cheering and stomping their feet. And then ...

Ludacris: We can stop when women stop calling themselves bitches.

Sandra Bullock: I don't call any woman a bitch. (pause, then, totally straight-facedly) Unless she is one.

Cut to some kind of language expert, sitting in the crowd. "80 years ago, you could call a woman a broad. We don't do that anymore."

Oh. Really? Whoops.