Art Art &Commentary 08 Jan 2006 08:25 am
Shortlist & Daumier
There was a respectable group of regulars who turned out yesterday to see the shortlisted live action shorts and vote to make some of them Oscar nominees. This, for me, is always a great event; I love the day. It sometimes gets grueling watching a 40 min short late in the day, but that wasn’t the case yesterday. All of the films were good; some of them were great. The screening took a full four hours but felt shorter than some of the feature films I sat through this year.
One of the highlights of the day is a lunch break set up by Patrick Harrison, of AMPAS, who arranges a feast for us to munch around the conversation. Lots of comparing this year 
to others, live action to animation, and a small bit of talk about the features. It’s all very civilized and enjoyable.
Today is Sunday. For me it starts with political talk shows. Hence, I continue the Daumier theme by posting his most famous etching, Gargantua. Louis XIV swallows up the money of the poor. The big difference between then and today is that Daumier was incar- cerated for his cartoon; I can post it without problem (though my phones might be tapped as a result.)
