Category Archives: EYG Blog

2026 Oscar Nominated Shorts- Live Action & Animated

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Every year, I go down to Cinemark the weekend of the Academy Awards so I can see the Live-Action Short Films and Animated Short Films that had been nominated for Oscars. It is always fun seeing these in their blocks.

It was weird this year because the shows were being produced by Roadside Attractions instead of the company that normally did it. It also said that the show was being presented by Taika Waititi, but I never saw or heard one thing from him. That was strange.

I am going to list my personal favorites from 5-1 here. This is not my Oscar predictions. It was just the ones I liked the best. In fact, i can almost 100% guarantee that my favorite of the Live-Action Shorts will NOT be the Oscar winner. I plan on doing my official predictions either later tonight or some time tomorrow before the ceremony.

Kicking off with the LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILMS

#5. Butcher’s Stain. This was my least favorite of all the shorts I saw today. It is a drama taking place in a supermarket in Tel Aviv. I had a hard time getting into this one. I was not interested and found little to grab my attention.

#4. The Singers. This was a fun short. It was the first one we were shown today and it featured a group of men in a bar, drinking and betting on who had the best singing voice. It had some great singing on it, but, while entertaining, I did not find, much depth in the short.

#3. Two People Exchanging Saliva. Weird. Wild. A strange world where kissing is frowned upon and the people go to the extreme of having terrible breath to ward off the kissers. It is also a society that pays for things by getting slapped in the face. This is such a bizarre short that it was tough to follow, but it fit right in with films like Bugonia.

#2. Friends of Dorothy. A sweet short that featured a young man (Alistair Nwachukwu) who meets an older woman (Miriam Margolyes) and they bond over plays. The young man secretly wishes to be an actor and the older woman is encouraging him to do so. This is such a sentimental flick, but it is very engaging as well.

#1. Jane Austen’s Period Drama. This was, BY FAR, my favorite short of the day. It was hilarious. The title lets you know what type of short this is going to be… and the “period” in the title does not refer to a time frame. The names of these characters were making me laugh every time they were mentioned. We had Estrogenia, Labinia, Mr. James Dickley, Mrs. Bitts,  Dr. Bangley, and my personal favorite… Miss Vagianna. It sticks with these jokes throughout the film and it was amazingly funny. Again, while I would love seeing this as an Oscar winner, I can almost guarantee that it will not win. It is definitely my personal favorite though.

Next… Animated Short Films

#5. Forevergreen. The relationship between a bear cub and a tree. Yes, that is what I said. While this was fine, it felt very heavy-handed in its story and I simply found the story not to my liking. Perhaps it was too saccharin.

#4. Three Sisters. I liked this one. It was the first animated short they showed us, and it had some real funny moments with characters who barely made a sound, let alone speak. Three Sisters is quirky and unique and worked well with the animation that it gave us. There were some laugh out loud moments too.

#3. Retirement Plan. Narrated by Domhnall Gleeson, this short follows the life of a man who has just retired and who has planned on doing all kinds of things. We get a list of these plans as the unnamed man gets older with every one. This is very solid animated film with some strong moments. Gleeson does a tremendous job narrating the short. It takes us right up to the man’s death (and actually beyond it) and it is a good short.

#2. The Girl Who Cried Pearls. If I were talking about story only, this might have been my favorite. However the animation of the short was tough on me the whole time. Not only did the characters suffer from the old uncanny valley, their faces were just not what I wanted to see. While most of the film looked great, none of the characters did and it hurt a film that I think was one of the better ones I saw.

#1. Butterfly (aka Papillon). This was an absolutely beautiful short with a very powerful story of swimmer Alfred Nakache. Not only does the film focus on his swimming, it also has comments on the Holocaust and the cruelty of the Nazis. The animation style felt like we were constantly seeing everything in a water color background and it was gorgeously designed. I thought this was the best animated short we saw by a great distance.

Shrinking S3 E6

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“Derek’s Don’t Die”

If Derek dies, we riot!

I did not appreciate this week’s episode of Shrinking as Derek wound up in the hospital with the widowmaker. Thankfully, it was found before he had any attack from it, but just the idea that this show might kill off the character of Derek was absolutely inconceivable.

I really was afraid during this episode.

Ted McGinley has never been a favorite of mine… that is until Shrinking. I love his portrayal of Derek and the idiosyncrasies of the character. He makes an amazing match with Liz, balancing her own crazy energy with his own brand of wackiness. I don’t know what the show would be like without Derek.

Thankfully, as our other Derrick says, Derek’s don’t die. Admittedly, he was ignoring his own father (Derrick Sr.) whom he says is on a farm.

This potentially crushing episode still had its wonderful dialogue, postering each scene with cleverness and holding back the tears that could flow.

Lots of good things happened this episode too including Meg telling her father Paul that she was separated, Brian finally calling his father and telling him that they had adopted a baby girl, and Sean received a possible interview.

But the heart of this episode was Derek and how much he meant to everyone on the canvas, as well as how much he meant to the viewers. While I was fairly certain that he was surviving the scare, I had that little inkling inside my mind that said that anything was possible.

Thankfully, it looks like Derek has survived the surgery and he has a long life of woodworking ahead of him (thanks to Jimmy’s goggles).

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

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Good afternoon from EYG.

I was sitting here, preparing to get started on the EYG Comic Cavalcade when I decided that I was feeling tired. I have been battling a cold over the last couple of days (since I went to the doctor’s office to renew my medication… coincidence???) and I decided that I would lay down and just relax for a bit.

I took a short little nap, not fully asleep, but enough to feel happy about the time. It is something that I do not usually allow myself, so this felt special. I have no school tomorrow because of Presidents’ Day and so this was a nice afternoon. I do hope that I will not pay for this tonight. In the past, when I have taken a nap in the afternoon, I struggled to get to sleep that night. I do think my body was telling me that I needed the shut eye and I hope it will not throw off my sleep pattern.

There were a few things running through my head while I was resting. First was the fact that I have a current run of 997 consecutive days of posting at EYG on Word Press. That has been a fun fact as we have been building on the streak, but I realized something the other day. Around a week and a half ago, I saw the number and I wondered when the actual day would be for the 1000th consecutive post. When I counted, it turned out that day 1000 would occur on my birthday! How fun! So this coming Wednesday, unless there is some massive major event, I will post my 1000th consecutive day on my 57th birthday.

Speaking of birthdays, my friend Shane just celebrated his yesterday on Valentine’s Day. Shane was one of the four original Embrace Your Geekness guys. In fact, he had asked me a question about whether I preferred Avengers or X-Men, to which I replied Avengers. He was surprised by that and then he made some comment about excuse his geekness. My response was to not be ashamed and to “embrace your geekness.” And so it went on. So happy birthday, Shane.

Well, I should get back to getting the Comic Cavalcade ready to go. I did love the lazy Sunday afternoon though.

Agents of Shield S2 E11, E12, E13, E14

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“Aftershocks”

“Who You Really Are”

“One of Us”

“Love in the Time of Hydra”

Skye and her new Inhuman powers take center stage as she tried to deal with the aftermath of them and of her crazy father.

There is also a second Shield storyline that I did not remember from my original viewing. Apparently, Mac and Bobbi have been working for this new Shield, which was being led by Edward James Olmos. Olmos played Robert Gonzales and was leading the push to bring down Coulson.

We had a guest shot from Lady Sif, who was chasing a Kree warrior, who was here pursuing those changed by the Terrigen Mist. That meant Skye.

It was fun in the episode “One of Us” when they brought Angar the Screamer to the screen. He is the type of low level supervillains that Agents of Shield would be allowed to use in the MCU.

Watching Mac lie to all of the other Shield crew, I wonder how he worked his way back into the good graces of Coulson, May and so on. I know Bobbi and Hunter do not stick around long, but Mac is there until the final episode.

Agent 33 and Ward returned to stir up trouble as well. There are so many different spy level stuff going on in these episodes, plus the Inhuman storyline. Been really solid so far.