oscar.update.

I'm making headway in my oscar viewings. I saw half nelson with *nn* and *br* on sunday, and I went to the coolidge theater today to see all the nominated short films. There were five live action shorts (the saviour, helmer and son, one too many, west bank story, and binta) and nine animated shorts (nominated ones: the danish poet, maestro, little matchgirl and no time for nutts, and the other runners-up (or is it runner-ups?): one rat short, the passenger, the wraith of cobble hill, guard dog, and gentlemen's duel). I'd never seen any shorts before, and wasn't sure what to expect. Well I'll tell you..it was great. It was like seeing fourteen movies for the price of just two. I tend to get a little fidgety while watching movies, but when they're twenty minutes or less in length, it's kind of hard to get bored. Of the live action short, my vote would go toward west bank story. This was hilarious, and everyone should see it. It was a mock musical based on west side story, but between the jews and muslims. The jews owned a restaurant called kosher king, and the muslims, one called hummus hut. There're hilarious comments throughout it, and everyone in the theater (it was packed full, but was the screening room, so there were only about 60 seats) was pretty much crying by the end. As for the animated shorts, the one that will win is no time for nuts- the one with the squirrel from ice age, but the one I think should win is the danish poet.