BuzzSugar

Oscar Nominees: The Animated Short Films

BuzzSugar — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:30:08 PST

One of my favorite things to do each Oscar season is to track down all of the nominated short films. The films are currently making the rounds of selected theaters, but many of them are also available right now online - and today, I have video from all five animated shorts!

This year's cast of animated characters includes a mischievous bunny, octopi in love, and a man taking a sentimental journey through his old house. Maybe watching these shorts will help you fill out your Oscar ballot! Check them out:

Oktapodi
How adorable are these octopi? In Oktapodi, these two cuties help each other escape the clutches of a tyrannical restaurant cook. But, even once they're out of the kitchen, their battle to stay together is not over. You hear that? It's animated sea creatures battling adversity. Watch the whole thing right now:

To check out the other four, just

La Maison en Petits Cubes
The main character of this Japanese film has been building an addition on top of his original house, which is almost completely under water. In the film, he dons scuba gear to float through his old home and relive memories with his family. Here's a clip:

Lavatory - Lovestory
This Russian film is a story about love and the random nature of when it strikes. The main character is a lonely female restroom attendant who discovers she has a secret admirer and searches frantically for his identity. Watch the whole thing here:

Presto
If you've seen Wall-E, then you've already seen Presto, the latest Pixar short. The star is a slightly evil rabbit who cooks up a way to get revenge on his neglectful magician master. You can buy this one on iTunes or watch it all right now:

This Way Up
In this quirky short, disaster strikes a father-and-son team of undertakers when a boulder squashes their hearse. They must then make their way across the country in a crazy travel caper with nothing but a coffin and each other to keep them amused. Here's the trailer:

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures and Source

Oscar Nominees: The Animated Short Films

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:42:40 PST

Every year when the Oscar nominations are announced, I make a little "note-to-self" to track down the nominated short films before the ceremony. Although they certainly don’t get the same kind of attention (and distribution) as feature length nominees, they often represent some of the most innovative, painstaking, and visually stunning filmmaking out there. This year is no different, especially in the animated short category. From an incredible visualization of a vintage interview with John Lennon to a lovely take on a classic fable, this year’s nominees prove just how entertaining this category can be.

The shorts will be hitting US theaters in February, and I hope they'll eventually end up on iTunes like last year's did. But in the meantime, I’ve put together some descriptions and clips (and some full length films - that might not last long, so watch fast!) of each of the animated shorts nominated this year. To get started, just

I Met The Walrus
When Jerry Levitan was 14 years old growing up in Toronto, he found the hotel that Beatles superstar John Lennon was staying in. Armed with a portable tape recorder, he managed to score himself an interview. Thirty-nine years later, filmmaker Josh Raskin has turned a portion of that interview into a cool, retro-looking film using line-drawn animation (MTV has used a similar technique in the past between shows). The trailer is below.

Even Pigeons Go To Heaven
A sweet little film about a priest's chase to save a troubled soul. This one is the full package - beautiful animation, great story. Check out the film in its entirety below.

Madame Tutli-Putli
A lady goes on a crazy metaphysical ride on a creepy night train. The story isn't the Oscar-worthy aspect of this little gem, though - that would be the fact that a 16-second shot took a week to make. You can find a small clip here and the trailer below.

My Love
This tale about first love was created by Alexandre Petrov, a Russian director who is considered one of the best animators in the world. The film features the same technique of painting on glass as his Oscar-winning short Old Man and the Sea. Part one is below, and follow this link for part two and three.

Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf
This is a gorgeous, very dark, stop-motion version of the popular story without narration and set in contemporary Russia. Only a half hour long, this little masterpiece took 100 animators, sculptors and artists five years to bring it to life. There is a preview below, and the full movie is here.

Source

Get the Oscar Shorts on iTunes!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:30:24 PST

Remember when I said I wished the Oscar-nominated shorts would make their way to the iTunes store? Well, it's happened. Now, you can buy nine of the 10 nominated movies for just $1.99 each. All five of the live-action shorts are there, along with four of the animated shorts - the only one missing is Pixar's Lifted, which comes out this summer.

You can also see if the shorts will be coming to a theater near you. And to get a taste of the nominated films (and see a few for free), check out my take on the live-action movies or the animated shorts.

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

The Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Now Playing at a Theater Near You?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:52:18 PST

I never have any shortage of opinions when it comes to my Oscar predictions in the major categories. But since I don't normally get to see the animated shorts or live-action short films, I'm left totally clueless or faking my way through uninformed opinions. Thankfully, not only are many of the films online this year, but Magnolia Pictures has also put together a program featuring all 10 short-film nominees, including No Time For Nuts (above) and West Bank Story, plus a few other indie shorts.

Lest you think this art-house assortment is only coming to New York and Los Angeles, have no fear. The program is now playing in more than 35 cities and will expand to 25 more theaters nationwide in the coming weeks. To see the full list of locations,

The 10-film program of Oscar-nominated shorts is now playing at these locations:

Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa, Bijou Theater
Atlanta, GA: Midtown Art Cinemas 8
Brookline, MA: Coolidge Corner Theatre
Ithaca, NY: Cornell Cinema
Chicago, IL: Music Box
Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Art Museum
Columbus, OH: Gateway 8
Santa Fe, NM: CCA Cinematheque
Austin, TX: Dobie Theatre
Houston, TX: Greenway 3 Theatre
Dallas, TX: Magnolia Theatre - Dallas
San Antonio, TX: Santikos Embassy 14
Boulder, CO: International Film Series
Denver, CO: Starz Filmcenter
Detroit, MI: Detroit Institute of Art
Indianapolis, IN: Key Cinemas
Springfield, MO: Moxie Cinema
Salina, KS: Salina Art Center
Kansas City, MO: Screenland Theatre
Honolulu, HI: Doris Duke Theatre
Tucson, AZ: Loft Cinema Twin
West Los Angeles, CA: Nuart Theatre
Milwaukee, WI: Times Cinema
Minneapolis, MN: Lagoon Cinema
Hartford, CT: Real Art Ways Cinema
Pleasantville, NY: Jacob Burns Film Center
New York, NY: IFC Center
Tulsa, OK: Circle Theatre
Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Dover, DE: Schwartz Center for Arts
Pittsburgh, PA: Harris Theatre
Portland, OR: Cinema 21 Theatre
Seattle, WA: Varsity Theatre
San Francisco, CA: Lumiere Theatre
Berkeley, CA: Shattuck Cinemas
San Rafael, CA: Smith Rafael Film Center
Salt Lake City, UT: Tower Theatre
University City, MO: Tivoli Theatre

The Oscar shorts are coming soon to these locations:

2/23/2007
Hollywood, CA: Egyptian Theatre
San Diego, CA: Ken Cinema
Santa Rosa, CA: Rialto Cinemas Lakeside
South Lake Tahoe, CA: Lake Tahoe Community College
Washington, DC: E Street Cinema
Maplewood, MN: Plaza Maplewood Theatre
University Park, PA: PSU GSA CAFE Film Committee
Fort Worth, TX: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

2/24/2007
Wichita, KS: Wichita Public Library
Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Theater

3/7/2007
Buffalo, NY: Market Arcade Film & Arts Center

3/8/2007
Fort Lauderdale, FL: Cinema Paradiso
Lake Worth, FL: Lake Worth Playhouse
Reno, NV: Reno Film Festival

3/9/2007
Gulf Breeze, FL: Gulf Breeze 4
Scranton, PA: Scranton Cultural Center

3/10/2007
Wilmington, DE: Theater N at Demours

3/13/2007
Norfolk, VA: Naro Expanded Cinema

3/16/2007
Miami Beach, FL: Miami Beach Cinematheque

3/22/2007
Paducah, KY: Maiden Alley

3/23/2007
Grande Prairie, AB: Grande Prairie Live Theatre

4/10/2007
Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Melnitz Movies

4/13/2007
Fresno, CA: Fresno Filmworks c/o Tower Theatre
Albuquerque, NM: Guild

5/11/2007
Chicago, IL: Gene Siskel Film Center

Source

The Oscar Nominees: Animated Short Films

BuzzSugar — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:16:54 PST

The animated short film category is one that usually leaves us regular, non-Academy folks stumped on Oscar night. The films are currently screening around the country, but if you're not able to get to one of those showings, at least the Internet can give you a taste.

I was hoping these five movies would have made their way to the iTunes store by now; sadly, only Disney's The Little Matchgirl is available there. The good news: Clips from all of the films are online, and three of them are available in full - but probably only until the studios find out, so you'll want to hurry. Here's a rundown:

Maestro
In this film, a singer prepares for his big performance, aided by a mechanical arm that caters to his wants and needs. This one is still available in its entirety, and it's worth watching all the way to the end for the cute twist.

The Little Matchgirl
This watercolor-style Disney version of Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale features a poor, hungry girl who sees visions of a better life for herself in the flame of each match she strikes. You can watch the full movie right now, but even once it gets pulled from YouTube, you'll still have lots of options: You can buy it from the iTunes store, watch a clip from the movie, check out a gallery of images, or watch another clip. The full film is on the Little Mermaid platinum edition DVD. But you might just want to watch this fast before Disney finds out:

To watch another full movie and see clips from the other two, including my favorite,

No Time For Nuts
Scrat, the squirrel from the Ice Age movies, is trying to bury his acorn in the snow when he accidentally uncovers a time machine. He ends up chasing his precious nut through the ages, dodging angry warriors, explosions, flying arrows and all kinds of other historical craziness. Hurry: You can see the full video right now, until Fox figures out it's online. If it's gone, you can still see a clip here, and the full film is on the DVD of Ice Age: The Meltdown.

The Danish Poet
I'm so sad this charming film isn't online anymore, because I wish everyone could have a chance to see it. The movie follows the narrator's quest to piece together the random twists of fate that led to her birth, including the death of a famous author, a hungry goat, several ferry boats, a herd of cattle, and a crowded train. Here's a clip, and there's another on this site.

Lifted
The newest Pixar short is slated for release with Ratatouille this summer, but you can see a clip of the movie at this site. The story focuses on a young alien who can't quite get his abduction skills down, much to the frustration of his Monsters Inc.-looking boss.

Salma Hayek and Several Hollywood Leading Ladies Join the Men of Madagascar 3 in Cannes

Lindsay Miller — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:19:02 PDT

Salma Hayek, Jessica Chastain, Naomi Watts, and Jada Pinkett Smith each made their own style statement on the red carpet at today's Cannes Film Festival premiere of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. The ladies joined several of the animated movie's male stars for the debut following a photocall for the film yesterday. Salma arrived at the premiere in Gucci. Meanwhile, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Chris Rock, and Martin Short - who all lent their voices to the project - were decked out in tuxes. Sacha Baron Cohen, who has been busy promoting his film The Dictator, wasn't able to join the group for the festivities, despite voicing the lemur King Julien XIII in the franchise. We're live on the scene at the annual celebration of cinema this week, so if you've missed any of the action, catch up with our gallery of all the Cannes Film Festival pictures so far!

5 Foods That Boost Your Memory

Prevention — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:17:12 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

By Mandy Oaklander, Prevention

Leave it to scientists to burst our bubble. For years, studies have told us that chewing gum can boost memory recall, and as such, we’d pop Chiclets during noggin-twisting times: exams, high school reunions, Jeopardy. Did it ever work for us? Honestly, we can’t remember - and there might be reason for that.

A study out of Cardiff University in the UK found that not only does chewing gum not help your short-term memory, but it also impairs it. Though there are certain activities that surprisingly boost brain health, gum chewing isn’t one of them.

In a series of three experiments, 97 university students were asked to recall either a short sequence of letters or identify the missing item in a list. They performed significantly worse when chewing gum, no matter how vigorously or how lazily they chomped. Researchers speculate that the tongue, mouth, and jaw movements of gum chewing disrupt short-term memory (For a fun way to refresh your mind, try these seven brain games).

Nine Surprising Reasons You Can’t Concentrate

You can still fight short-term memory loss, hand to mouth, with these five tricks!

9 Freegan Tips to Save Money and the Earth

Emily Co — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:53 PDT

Although most of us associate freeganism with dumpster diving, freegans actually do advocate much more than sifting through garbage for food.

Madeline Nelson from freegan.info shared with me the ideology behind their lifestyle. She says, "Not all freegans are dumpster divers and not all dumpster divers are freegans. Freegans' focus is much broader and much more political - how to throw a cog in the corporate profit machine, help alleviate social injustice and ecological destruction, and create ways to live more independently of the giant corporations that now rule the word with the sole aim of profit for their owners and top managers."

Rummaging through trash receptacles is only for the bold, so for those of you who still want to do some good and save money at the same time, Madeline shares some easy tips you can implement in your everyday lifestyle.

Pick Your Produce With Care: Don't buy factory farmed animal products! There are so many reasons, from not ingesting the antibiotics and hormones still in the products, to the cruelty of factory farm conditions to animals and workers alike, to the 70 pounds of high quality vegetable protein wasted to produce a single pound of beef.
Support Local Farmers: Eat as local as you can afford to do; use farmers markets and CSAs if you can. By reducing the distance your food travels (these days, often 1000s of miles) you reduce your carbon footprint and opt out of the exploitation of tenant farmers whose kids are picking baby vegetables for the USA when they should be able to go to school.
Grow Your Own: The most local you can go is to grow your own fruits and veggies. Got a yard? Turn it into a pea patch. Don't? Join a community garden, make new friends, and learn relaxing new skills.
Dumpster Dive: Feeling brave? Try seeing what your local supermarkets are throwing out every day. Dumpster diving is often fun and always a wake-up call to waste being perpetrated in our names - we, who supposedly wouldn't buy an odd shaped potato or a nearly ripe banana. And it is economically much more viable than working a low wage job to earn enough to buy the same stuff.

For more freegan tips, read on.

Mad Men's 5 Maddest Moments: "At the Codfish Ball"

Shannon Vestal — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:26:21 PDT

This week's Mad Men puts the spotlight on Megan, who has a career breakthrough at work, though she's less successful with her visiting parents. Peggy's domestic situation is also highlighted when she takes her relationship with Abe to the next level, and Roger is bouncing back from his separation from Jane quite nicely - though it would have been nice if he could have kept his pants on.

This week's episode is far less stressful than last week when Megan goes missing, but there's still plenty of fodder to chat about. To see what I thought were the five maddest moments of the night, just read more.

Femmephobia: "Girls Are Gross" Writ Large

The Good Men Project — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:00:00 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Ozy Frantz explains the difference between fear and hatred of women, and the more common fear and hatred of anything feminine.

When I was a freshman in high school, I and my friends were Cool Chicks.

We weren't like those other girls, the ones who were passive and weak and giggled and watched romantic comedies and thought about their hair and makeup. Those girls were stupid and frivolous and vapid, and we made fun of them. No, we were Cool. We liked fantasy novels and action movies and anime! We laughed at "that's what she said" jokes and "make me a sandwich" humor and South Park quotes! We fake-fought with each other and laughed off pain and never cried! We were just like the guys in every way!

Around this time, I was also beginning to really get into feminism. I was proud of myself. I defied convention and gender roles. My adoption of male gender norms wholesale was truly a feminist act. After all, all the stuff girls did was stupid, and the stuff boys did was fun, and -

. . . hey, wait a minute.

Do Men Have ‘Mommy Issues'?

Julia Serano, in Whipping Girl (which is, in my opinion, a book that should be read by everyone interested in gender issues) discusses the concept of "femmephobia" in our society. Femmephobia is the devaluation, fear and hatred of the feminine: of softness, nurturance, dependence, emotions, passivity, sensitivity, grace, innocence and the color pink.

To a large degree, our culture has replaced the fear and hatred of women, with the fear and hatred of things commonly associated with women. I think this is . . . not so much progress, actually.

Read the rest of the story below.