Welcome to the Academy Awards

They come every year, and every year I get just as excited as the last. I sit on the couch, in my comfy

clothes, making bets with my dad, phone in hand, texting my friend the play by play of the winners, partly wishing I could wear those beautiful gowns all the time and partly thinking, I’m so glad I can breath in my sweats.

It’s hard to believe that The Oscars haven’t always been the big extravaganza that they are today, but that was the case on May 16, 1929, the night of the first Academy Awards. That night only 270 people attended the awards with tickets only costing $5 and the winners were announced three months earlier. Public interest in the show grew after the first show, and the second show had a one-hour radio broadcast and the winners were kept a secret until the award ceremony. In 1953 the first televised ceremony let millions enjoy the show and it has been that way ever since.

Today, the red carpet for The Oscars usually starts at six or seven, with the ceremony starting at eight and is supposed to run until 11 p.m. but lets face it, it always runs late because of long speeches. For the last 10 years The Oscars have been pulling in between 32 to 43 million viewers each year.

This year, with Ellen DeGeneres hosting and big name Hollywood actors and actresses attending, and no real front runners to win the big awards meaning the night will be full of surprises, I’m sure they will have no trouble pulling in good ratings. 

What's your Hollywood?!

Everyone has their guilty pleasure. Mine? Well I'm an entertainment junkie!  I love sitting down with a stack of tabloid magazines. I don't just quickly flip through them, I read them cover to cover! I try to watch all the new popular television shows, as well as keeping up with my long time favourites. Movies? They’re my downfall (based on my collection of over 200 movie stubs). Perez Hilton and TMZ's websites are a must visit each and everyday… at least eight times a day! It really should come as no surprise that "Award Season" is an absolute highlight for me. I watch them all. The Emmy's, The Golden Globes, The Screen Actors Guild Awards, and more but my personal favourite, The Academy Awards, most commonly known as "The Oscars."

"Oscar Night" is an extravaganza not to be missed! First comes the parade of stars walking the "red carpet" in all their splendour. The fashion "hits" and "misses" are always a popular topic and generally talked about at great length in the following days. Then comes the opening number, usually a musical, but sometimes it's a comedic monologue. Whatever it turns out to be, it generally sets the mood of excitement for what’s to come. And then finally, the five little words we wait to hear… "and the Oscar goes to". 

Have you ever wondered what it takes to put on a show of this magnitude? Or who selects the films, actors, directors, etc. that are nominated? What will winning an Oscar do for an Actors career? These are just a few of the topics that I plan to blog about. Join me in the following weeks as I discuss these and other topics related to "Oscar". Don't forget to tune into the Academy Awards on March 2, 2014.