Ellen DeGeneres to Host The Oscars!

Ellen DeGeneres will return to host the Oscars for a second time, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today. The Academy Awards will be broadcast live on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, on the ABC Television Network.

"We are thrilled to have Ellen DeGeneres host the Oscars," said Zadan and Meron. "As a longtime friend, we had always hoped to find a project for us to do together and nothing could be more exciting than teaming up to do the Oscars. There are few stars today who have Ellen's gift for comedy, with her great warmth and humanity. She is beloved everywhere and we expect that the audience at the Dolby Theatre, and in homes around the globe, will be as excited by this news as we are."

"I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time. You know what they say - the third time's the charm," said DeGeneres.

"I agreed with Craig and Neil immediately that Ellen is the ideal host for this year's show," said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy President. "We're looking forward to an entertaining, engaging and fun show."

"Ellen is talented, wonderfully spontaneous, and knows how to entertain a worldwide audience," said Dawn Hudson, Academy CEO. "She's a big fan of the Oscars; we're huge fans of hers. It's a perfect match."

"It is an honor to welcome back Ellen DeGeneres as the host of the biggest entertainment celebration of the year," said Paul Lee, president, ABC Entertainment Group. "She is the consummate entertainer, equally beloved by her peers in the industry, movie fans and television viewers. We very much look forward to having her back on ABC for Oscar Sunday."

DeGeneres hosted the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, for which she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program."

DeGeneres has made a home for herself in daytime with her hit syndicated talk show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," which has earned a total of 45 Daytime Emmys during its 10 seasons.

DeGeneres' began her career as an emcee at a local comedy club in her hometown of New Orleans. Her acting career in television included roles in several successful sitcoms before being offered a part on "These Friends of Mine" by ABC. After the first season, the show was renamed "Ellen." Running from 1994 to 1998, the show garnered record ratings, with DeGeneres receiving Emmy nominations each season in the Best Actress category. In 1997, DeGeneres was the recipient of the coveted Peabody Award as well as earning an Emmy for writing the critically acclaimed "Puppy Episode" when her character came out as a gay woman to a record 46 million viewers.

DeGeneres has also been successful in her feature film work. DeGeneres scored unprecedented popular and critical response to her character, Dory, the fish with extreme short-term memory, in the blockbuster Pixar animated feature Finding Nemo. DeGeneres recently announced the highly anticipated sequel to Finding Nemo, Pixar's Finding Dory, currently scheduled to be released in November 2015.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar® Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Here's Ellen's monologue from 2007:

Pussy Riot documentary on Oscar shortlist

'Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer' and '20 Feet From Stardom' and among the documentaries that have been shortlisted for this year's Academy Awards.

Of the initial 147 films that qualified in the category, 15 have now been placed on a shortlist from which the five nominees will be selected.

'Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer', was directed by Mike Lerner and follows feminist punks Pussy Riot as they protest against Vladimir Putin's control of Russia and then follows their subsequent incarceration.

Meanwhile, '20 Feet from Stardom' is director Morgan Neville's look at the history of the background singer. The film focuses on that focuses on singers like Merry Clayton, of 'Gimme Shelter' fame, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, Tata Vega and Judith Hill. It also features interviews with the likes of Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Sting.

The other 13 documentaries still in contention are 'The Act of Killing', 'The Armstrong Lie', 'Blackfish', 'The Crash Reel', 'Cutie and the Boxer', 'Dirty Wars', 'First Cousin Once Removed', 'God Loves Uganda', 'Life According to Sam', 'The Square', 'Stories We Tell' and 'Tim's Vermeer'. The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 16th and the awards will be presented on March 2nd.

Oscar noms...

I have the feeling that American Hustle will win, which will be weird considering they denied Scorsese so long, but that movie was clearly a Scorsese homage.

Jennifer Lawrence named as first presenter at 2014 Oscars

Jennifer Lawrence has been announced as the first presenter for this year's Oscars awards ceremony, the Independent reports.

The actress will return to the Academy Awards - now in its 86th year - to hand out an award following her victory at last year's event. Lawrence won awards for her role in Silver Linings Playbook in 2013 and this year is nominated for more in 2014. She is in the running for Best Supporting Actress for her part in American Hustle.

At 23, Lawrence is now the youngest three-time nominee at the awards, with her performance in Winter's Bone nominated in 2011's ceremony. Last year, when collecting the award for Best Actress, she memorably fell on the stairs before later poking fun at herself in a press conference Q&A.