Announcement: The Shorts

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Via Awards Daily, it pleases me greatly to let you know that the short films to be nominated for the Academy's related categories will be in February released throughout the entire country theatrically, that the public may get a sporting chance to see them prior to the televised ceremony in which their winners are awarded their respective statuettes. As the brief on Awards Daily notes, the shorts have achieved an increasingly high level of respect and interest among the public in the past few years, a level which has now (thankfully) allowed them to receive distribution beyond the historically limited, one theater in Los Angeles. The release, which specifically will begin on 6 February, will touch 60 cities and, for those living without the reach of those cities, the global delivery service iTunes (two weeks later, on the 22nd).
For me, the release in iTunes, I think, is a particularly good idea, because of its reach; and I was perplexed when it, which had begun (to my knowledge) in anticipation of the awards two years ago, was without a word discontinued last year dismayingly. I'm definitely glad of that it's back now, with the theatrical release to boot! - a service that will no doubt chop off the leg up Pixar has traditionally, until now, had for benefit of its coupled releasings, like last year's Lifted and Ratatouille and this year's Presto and Wall•E. While Presto will undoubtedly be among the five nominees in the Animated Short category this year, as it would be a rare miss for Pixar, which is historically founded upon the integrity of its shorts, to not make it among the five, the rest of the still to be announced nominees now may shift around their often consummate-with-Pixar's skills in the new popular reception.
Speaking of the animated nominees, Animation World Network (AWN), my go-to site for news and views and even previews of the nominees (see last year's preview for the relevant notes, here), has already established its preliminary site for the 2009 Oscar showcase, the tradition of which it has been carrying on since four years before the feature-length animated films began receiving their individual Academic due, in 1998. While such preliminary readyings have not yet betrayed what or which of the many noteworthy animated shorts from around the world may receive such similar recognition in the Animated Short category, the site will no doubt feature such news soon, news of which I dutifully will keep you posted up, whenever it break. :)
Until then, if you haven't already, have a look at some speculated leading contenders: Presto on YouTube, here; (a clip of) Hot Dog (by Bill Plympton), here; and, a quick favorite, the magnetizing Sebastian's Voodoo (by Joaquin Baldwin), here.