This weekend starts with thousands in the chilly water at the Jersey Shore and wraps with some NJ stars on the red carpet at Hollywood's biggest night.

The 24th annual Polar Bear Plunge is happening Saturday at Seaside Heights! Big Joe Henry and New Jersey 101.5 have you covered, whether you're getting "freezin' for a reason" to support Special Olympics New Jersey or just want to watch the fun from home.

Damien Chazelle La La Land Oscars
NJ at the Oscars preview, SOA spinoff cast news - The NJ Breakroom (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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'La La Land' director, Mercer County native Damien Chazelle is a strong contender heading into the Academy Awards. The movie is up for a record-tying 14 Oscars on Sunday.

Another 'piece' of NJ from the film will be there, too. A star projector (originally from the Planetarium at Ocean County College) used in the modern musical will be used during the awards show. My guess is we'll see it used during John Legend's performance of two songs from 'La La Land' that are competing for an Oscar.

Meryl Streep Golden Globes Oscars 2017
NJ at the Oscars preview, SOA spinoff cast news - The NJ Breakroom (Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
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Jersey native Meryl Streep has her 20th Oscar nomination for 'Florence Foster Jenkins'. Since she gave a passionate speech at the Golden Globes that indirectly slammed President Trump, there's buzz from detractors about her heading into Sunday. Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the 89th Oscars ceremony on Sunday, airing live on ABC.

The Sons of Anarchy spinoff from Union County native Kurt Sutter has filled out its cast. JD Pardo will star as E-Z Reyes. Edward James Olmos will play Reyes' dad. It's picking up sometime after 'Sons', but Emilio Rivera is rumored to return as Marcus Álvarez. Sutter is directing the pilot for FX, with production expected to start in March.

New movies this weekend include 'Collide', starring Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins & Ben Kingsley. There's also the horror debut from Jordan Peele, 'Get Out'. And, a new animation  'Rock Dog' features the voices of Luke Wilson, Eddie Izzard, J.K. Simmons and Lewis Black.

 

Proud Jersey Girl Erin Vogt’s first reporting gig involved her Fisher Price tape recorder. As a wife and momma of two kiddies, she firmly believes that life’s too short to drink bad coffee.  A fan of the beach, Dave Grohl and karma, in no particular order.

Follow her on Twitter and on Facebook as ProudJersey.

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