Everybody Loves Rick Dept.: As the date for the Oscar nominations draws ever closer the question on everybody's mind -- at least in Austin -- isn't what sort of disastrous musical routine might we again be forced to endure in the name of "filler," but instead, will
Richard Linklater's
Waking Life end up as one of the three films nominated in the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences new Animated Feature category? Previous years have seen a direct correlation between earlier awards groups and eventual inclusion and success at the Oscars. With that in mind, this past weekend saw the
Broadcast Film Critics Association name Linklater's philosophical-musing-cum-film as one of three films in their Best Animated Feature category, alongside
Shrek and
Monsters, Inc. The winner will be announced Jan. 11 at the BFCA's awards ceremony. As if that weren't enough of a sign of good things to come, let's not forget that
Bob Sabiston, the man behind
Waking Life's dynamic, trippy animation technique, was nominated for the
American Film Institute's Digital Effects Artist of the Year; the
New York Film Critics Circle Award bestowed on the film the title of Best Animated Film; and the
National Society of Film Critics honored the film with its Best Experimental Feature Award from New York's legendary
Sardi's on Saturday. Did I mention
Waking Life's nomination for the
Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion Award yet? Ah, well, there you go. It's only a matter of time now before Linklater has to splurge on a new, industrial-sized mantelpiece... It's last-minute news, but if you're reading this on Thursday, Jan. 10, then there's still time for you to make your way over to the Blue Theater (916 Springdale Rd.) by 7pm this evening, when, lucky you,
AIGA Austin and the
Austin Film Society are co-presenting a panel discussion "about the creative process behind the movie
Spy Kids 2," featuring production designer
John Frick, storyboard artist
Marc Baird, and conceptual designer
Alex Toader. Tickets are available at the door, $5/AFS members and $10/everyone else. Directions to the oft-overlooked Blue Theater are available online at
www.bluetheater.org/directions.html...
Barna Kantor's
Center for Young Cinema's second compilation tape of student short films -- titled
"Hole in the Head-- -- is now available at various independent video and music stores around town (i.e.
Vulcan,
Waterloo,
I Luv Video), as well as from the CYC direct. All proceeds from the tape help fund tuition for low-income CYC students, natch, so toss that 11 th-generation dupe of
Cutthroat Island on the slag heap where it belongs, and go support da kidz, already. And while you're at it, check out the CYC's brand-spankin' new Web site at
www.cyc-austin.org/.