Academy Awards

HOLLYWOOD -- He's made himself the nation's most trusted source for fake news and written a best-selling book of fake history. But this much is real: Jon Stewart, the Emmy-winning star of Comedy Central's mock newscast The Daily Show, is going Hollywood - as host of the 78th annual Academy Awards. The 43-year-old comedian will make his first appearance as host of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards show, which will be broadcast on ABC on March 5, the academy said yesterday in an e-mail statement.

HOLLYWOOD -Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood's film about a female boxer whose biggest challenges come outside the ring, scored a knockout last night at the 77th annual Academy Awards with four Oscar wins, including Best Picture. Released by Warner Bros. late in the year to take advantage of what the studio saw as a weak field, the film also earned awards for director Eastwood, actress Hilary Swank and supporting actor Morgan Freeman. With first-time host Chris Rock keeping things lively with pointed humor that stopped just short of being too risque for the network airwaves (censors beeped out his words at least twice)

"Titanic," James Cameron's $200 million epic about the 1912 sea disaster, tied "Ben-Hur" with the most Oscars in history, winning 11 at last night's 70th annual Academy Awards ceremony.The blockbuster, which just last summer was rumored to be a flop in the making, won the Oscar for best picture as well as awards for: costumes, sound, sound effects editing, visual effects, original dramatic score, film editing, original song, cinematography, art direction and direction."Titanic's" 14 nominations had tied the record set by the 1950 film "All About Eve."

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The Oscar nominations won't be announced until Tuesday, but Chris Rock, the host of next month's Academy Awards ceremony, has already decided who one of the evening's big winners should be: Jamie Foxx, the star of the biopic Ray. "I am rooting for Jamie, and if he doesn't win, I'm going to talk about it on the show," Rock promised, a sly grin tiptoeing across his face. And if Foxx comes up empty? "I'll take an Oscar from one of the sound or light people that win and give it to him," Rock said.

Hanging around backstage at the Academy Awards for 10 years, you pick up a few things. And, if you're a writer, you put them in a book, which is what Steve Pond has done in The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards. Pond, originally granted permission to be a fly on Oscar's wall 10 years ago for a story for Premiere magazine, has been backstage at every Academy Awards since 1995. With this year's ceremonies only a week away, he agreed to answer some questions about what goes on behind the scenes of the movie industry's biggest night.

In the year of the little movies that could, one of the littlest, "Shakespeare in Love," outfoxed and outcharmed "Saving Private Ryan" at the 71st Academy Awards last night."

In her most memorable line from "Precious," Mo'Nique's character plaintively asks, "Who is going to love me?" But that's a question the Baltimore County-born actress may never have to ask again, not after receiving a standing ovation for winning the best supporting actress Oscar at Sunday night's 82nd annual Academy Awards. "God bless us all," said the composed, but clearly emotional, actress, whose star turn in "Precious" has garnered widespread, critically acclaim and numerous awards.

"The horror of the Academy Awards is what the press does leading up to it to make it a popular TV show." -- Oscar winner Sean Penn

thatsthespirit.com This entertaining-focused site has recipes for cocktails themed to this year's Academy Awards (search articles for "Oscar Party"), such as a Sunny Dream to celebrate Little Miss Sunshine or Dreamgirls. Kate Shatzkin

LOS ANGELES -- A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the familiar Oscar statuette that universally symbolizes the Academy Awards is protected by federal copyright laws, striking down an earlier decision that the Oscar had entered the public domain.