Academy Awards

The 2014 Academy Awards nominations are set for Thursday morning, and you can watch them live above. The Oscars announcement is expected to start at 5:38 a.m. and 30 seconds Pacific time. (Why the extra 30 seconds? At that hour, we're willing to take any additional sleep we can get.) Actor Chris Hemsworth and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs will read the list of nominees, which is expected to include best picture candidates such as "12 Years a Slave," "Gravity," "Captain Phillips" and "American Hustle.

NEW YORK - This was the dog writers' biggest night. The only things missing were the red carpet and interminable speeches. And the dogs. But they were there in spirit at the recent awards ceremony of the Dog Writers Assn. of America, which each year honors the men and women who write about man's best friend. "This is our version of the Emmys, the Grammys and the Academy Awards," member and past award-winner Mary R. Burch said as she opened the evening at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

Much is made in entertainment punditry of the Golden Globes' presumed status as a barometer for the Oscars. The Globes are not a bad indicator, but it's worth remembering that both events are essentially popularity contests. The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. has fewer than 100 voting members; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has about 6,000 voters. Both shows involve highly subjective decisions about roughly the same pool of movies and performances. Because the Globes nominates 10 movies, 10 men and 10 women in two categories (drama and musical or comedy)

It has been said that every movie is made three times: in the writing, in the shooting and in the editing. At the Writers Guild of America Awards last Sunday, "Captain Phillips" scribe Billy Ray paid tribute to the latter stages upon winning the prize for adapted screenplay. (The film is based on Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty's book "A Captain's Duty. ") Accepting the honor, Ray kissed his new statuette and said: "There are a lot of wonderful writers in this room tonight. And on this night my wish for each of you is that once, just once, you can know what it feels like to have the kind of luck that I had on this movie.

For anyone who has spent any real time in Los Angeles, the Oscars aren't simply an event -- they are a season, marked by limousines, road closures, early quitting times. Over the years, they've tweaked our rhythms, changed our priorities and altered our escape routes. Whether you love them, shun them or have built rituals around them, they have a significant presence for many.

Academy Award nominees are usually revealed on a Tuesday about four weeks before the big show, which is typically held the last Sunday in February. For 2009, though, the targeted Tuesday -- Jan. 20 -- is Inauguration Day. So the 81st annual Oscar nominees will be revealed Thursday, Jan. 22, and the Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, Feb. 22 -- the earliest Oscars ever. "It didn't make any sense for us to try to compete with [the inauguration] from a news point of view," academy Executive Administrator Ric Robertson said Monday.

Now that the Oscar field is finally set, Hollywood's most nail-biting, nerve-racking fashion exercise can officially begin. Of course, the dance between designers and stars lasts until the final hours before the Academy Awards, which means it's much too early to say for sure who will wear what on the big night. But there are plenty of clues to be found in previous red-carpet appearances by this year's contenders and presenters.

VANITY FAIR'S cancellation of its legendary Oscar party dramatically changes the landscape of Hollywood's most glamorous evening for the first time in years. When editor Graydon Carter threw his first Academy Awards viewing and post-party at Morton's in 1994, he wanted to inherit the uber-hosting mantle of the late talent agent Swifty Lazar. Instead, he did Swifty one better -- Carter practically eliminated the competition. Vanity Fair has been such a magnet for A-listers that studios don't even bother to compete anymore and throw pre-Oscar parties instead.

Tom Sherak had a long career as a studio executive and was involved in hundreds of films, including "Black Hawk Down," "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. " But Sherak is best known for the jobs he did for free or almost free. For three years ending in 2012, he was outspoken president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, , during which he launched initiatives but also had to deal with public controversies, including the replacement of the producer and host of an Oscar show.

Here in Beverly Hills, amid the gurgling fountains of wealth and luxury, the world's most famous women come in disguise, during off hours, by private elevator, using false names, to fight the good fight against the one thing that money can't buy: time. In the weeks before the Oscars, the entertainment industry's biggest night of the year, it's the dermatologists and plastic surgeons they seek -- anxious to look younger, slimmer, more beautiful than usual.

The Academy Awards are still more than three weeks away, and, by this point, there's the feeling that everyone involved should be looking (or at least feeling ) like Cate Blanchett's desperate, fallen socialite at the end of "Blue Jasmine" - bleary-eyed, babbling and drenched in perspiration. Those who have avoided that fate have probably honed their personal mantra along the lines of Matthew McConaughey's chest-bump money chant in "The Wolf of Wall Street," something along the lines of: Mmmm-hmmm-hmmm.

The red carpet was buzzing, and actress Riley Reid was trying to practice her acceptance speech. But a sheepish fan in a bow tie wanted a picture. Fellow performers wanted good-luck hugs and kisses. Reporters wanted interviews. Reid, 22, said she'd spoken with her mother before the show and they talked about what the actress might say if she won Female Performer of the Year. Her mom wanted a shout-out from the stage. After all, the actress had inherited one of her better-known attributes from her. Reid had promised she wouldn't forget her. "It's super-flattering and I would be super-happy if I won," Reid said.

SANTA BARBARA - Hollywood's unique awards calculus wouldn't seem to take a film festival at this posh coastal enclave into account. The Santa Barbara International Film Festival, after all, is not a prestige movie launching pad such as the Toronto International Film Festival or an indie acquisitions bazaar like Utah's Sundance. But over the last decade, the Central Coast festival has carved an important niche in the movie ecosystem. Arriving exactly two weeks after Academy Awards nominations were announced, the Santa Barbara festival is distinguished as a tactical pit stop on the way to the Oscars.

The Motion Picture Academy released its first statement Saturday since revoking the Oscar nomination of Bruce Broughton, the composer of "Alone Yet Not Alone," which would have been one of the five contenders for original song at this year's Academy Awards on March 2. It was the first time the academy had ever nullified an Oscar nomination on ethical grounds. "The Board of Governors' decision to rescind the Original Song nomination ... was made thoughtfully and after careful consideration," the statement read.

Woody Allen's adopted daughter Dylan Farrow on Saturday repeated - and elaborated on - her assertion that the filmmaker sexually assaulted her when she was a child. Farrow's open letter, published on the New York Times website, is part of a renewed public scrutiny of allegations first leveled against Allen in 1992, shortly after the end of his relationship with actress Mia Farrow. In a Vanity Fair story published in October, Dylan Farrow (who now goes by another name) also laid out details of what she said happened to her. Allen, who has long maintained his innocence, could not be reached for comment Saturday.

When the Academy Award nominations are announced, there are often surprises, sometimes including an underdog or two that may have burrowed their way into a finalist slot. It's rare, however, to find nominees who haven't been significantly promoted to Oscar voters or widely written about by award prognosticators. As with every year, 2013 had its share of smaller, indie or under-the-radar releases with elements perhaps as strong as some of their more ballyhooed brethren. But without the marketing muscle (read: money)

The 85th Academy Awards take place Sunday night beginning at 5 p.m. Pacific, but you can make a full day of Oscars TV viewing. Oscar coverage begins Sunday morning and builds up to red carpet arrivals, interviews and more. The ceremony itself airs live at 5:30 p.m. Pacific on ABC. You also can join us on latimes.com for live coverage of the red carpet and ceremony, including video commentary during commercial breaks from film critic Kenneth Turan and writer Robin Abcarian.

Was that the Academy Awards or the Democratic National Convention? LELAND HAMMERSCHMITT Ojai

With the Grammys over and the awards season now heading toward a climax with the Academy Awards on March 2, one thing has become obvious: Not all Hollywood parties are created equal. Both before and after each big awards ceremony, there are multiple parties of varying exclusivity. If you are lucky enough to snag an invitation to one of these soireés, you may imagine you are on the way to becoming a player in the industry. But how do you really know? Well, my friend, read the clues.

Tom Sherak had a long career as a studio executive and was involved in hundreds of films, including "Black Hawk Down," "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. " But Sherak is best known for the jobs he did for free or almost free. For three years ending in 2012, he was outspoken president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, , during which he launched initiatives but also had to deal with public controversies, including the replacement of the producer and host of an Oscar show.