Acclaimed animator and Animation Show co-creator Don Hertzfeldt is hitting Chicago's Music Box this Friday on a current tour billed as An Evening With Don Hertzfeldt. The event will showcase some of Don's classic animations, such as Billy's Balloon and Lily and Jim, and culminate in a screening of his newest animation, I Am So Proud Of You, the follow-up to his highly-praised Everything Will Be Ok. Hertzfeldt will then be on-hand for a post-screening interview. As we await Don's arrival, we'd like to look back at his hilarious short film Rejected, which happened to garner an Academy Award nomination (2001, Best Animated Short Film). It's nothing short of brilliant and is a perfect reflection of Hertzfeldt's bizarre genius. more ›

Ah, the Academy Award "Shorts." Largely ignored in favor of the races focusing on acting accomplishments and what movie had the saddest/more politically controversial/historically momentous ending, the Short Subject categories often offer a hodgepodge of achievements actually more worthy of your time than most of the feature length tripe that hits theaters these days. They're also full of fun trivia: did you know Billy Zabka, a.k.a the fantastic villain Johnny Lawrence from one of our favorite films of all time, was actually nominated for an Academy Award in the Live Action Short category in 2004? And have you ever seen Don Hertzfeldt's excellent 2001 nominated animated short, "Rejected"? Wacky stuff. more ›