The cameras are in place, the stars are starting to stroll the red carpet, and the countdown to the 81st Academy Awards has begun. Hollywood's biggest night is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The show airs on ABC. Oscar watchers are fixated on several questions -- will it be Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" or Sean Penn in "Milk" for best actor Will Kate Winslet once again lose out ...

Sandi Stratton wanted to see a Dodgers game. Babe Churchill wanted to go to the Academy Awards. Babe won that small argument -- and the decision affected them both for many years to come. "Sandi didn't want to come, and now I can't get her to quit," Babe, of Escondido, California, said with a laugh. The two sisters have been coming to Los Angeles for the Academy Awards for 39 years. On Sunday, they'll celebrate their 40th ceremony. On that ...

It was a night for neon pink bowties and words like "disaster" and "monstrosity." It was not the night, however, to be Paris Hilton, Mike Myers or Uwe Boll. The 29th Annual Golden Raspberry Awards honored the worst film achievements of the year in a small theater in Hollywood on February 21. The night opened with a parody of the "Mama Mia" song, "Dancing Queen," and ended with "Love Guru" being named worst picture. "It wasn't just the economy that ...

One major contender's chances at Oscar gold may be damaged due to its sensitive subject matter. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- One major contender's chances at Oscar gold may be damaged due to its sensitive subject matter. "The Reader," which is up for five Oscars -- including best actress (for star Kate Winslet) and best picture -- is being slammed by "Explaining Hitler" author Ron Rosenbaum, who's asked Academy members to shun the post-World War II drama because the film ...

How can the country that gave the world the Kama Sutra be so prudish? It's a longstanding cliché to note that India has produced both the world's most famous guide to love and erotic pleasure and some of the most conservative social rules this side of Saudi Arabia on such questions as kissing in public. That paradox was on display once again this week in the firestorm that swept India following a seemingly innocuous — and obviously staged — celebrity ...

On a winter evening in early 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Oscar, a best supporting actress honor for her performance as Mammy, the servant in "Gone With the Wind." She accepted her award at the Academy Awards ceremony at the Coconut Grove, a nightclub in Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel, where she was seated in the segregated section at the rear of the room. Though her win was played as a sign of progress for ...

Hollywood uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer is famous for his almost uncanny ability to recognize a potential hit movie. Once described as "the man with the golden gut," Bruckheimer's movies have earned more than $15 billion in box office, fueled by a potent mix of fast-moving action, big bangs and even bigger stars. Over the span of almost four decades, Tinseltown's reigning king of action has credits including, 1980s classics "Top Gun" and "Flashdance," high-octane action movies "The Rock" and "Con ...

Ever since gold miners first scraped their fortunes out of the hills of northern California, America's most populous state has been a land of titanic dreams. These days, though, it's a place with even bigger problems. Its $42 billion budget deficit would make an out-of-control Hollywood director blush — and bankrupt a small nation. Its schools are failing, air quality is worsening, and unemployment neared 10% as of December. The only thing larger than its litany of woes, however, is ...

Singer Chris Brown broke his silence Sunday, a week after allegedly attacking his girlfriend, fellow performer Rihanna, on a street in Los Angeles, California. "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired," the 19-year-old said in a statement released by his spokesman. "I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God's help, to emerging a better person." He added, "Much of what has ...

Echo has an endlessly challenging job. On one assignment, she might play a hostage negotiator; on another, a midwife; on still another, a woman in love. Then she gets chauffeured to a treatment at a spalike facility filled with warm light and blond wood. It's a little like being a Hollywood actress on location. But not exactly. Echo's "engagements"--ranging from deadly capers to prostitution--are real. That spa treatment is a sometimes painful process in which her personality and ...