So I just got back from seeing the NW Film Forum's presentation of most of the Oscar short nominees.

7:35 In The Morning, starring Nacho Vigalondo, was the most entertaining thing I've seen in the longest time, darn tootin'. Go to the site and watch the whole thing now! Right now! You will love it. So good. 12 stars!

Also, the Oscar winner for best animated short, Ryan, was refreshingly unique, and I thought it was a fantastic use of computer animation to communicate... people. Really good. 8.5 stars. Birthday Boy was also very good, although I think I was too hung up on tiny animation flaws to let myself chill and really appreciate the story. The story's quite touching - such innocence in a time of war, and his Daddy... made me think of Life is Beautiful.

The NW Film Forum is sweet! I think they're a wonderful organization, although I thought their theatre was a 50/50 combo of ghetto and fabulous. I expected the crowd to be film snobbish, which it wasn't - it actually had a 'Look, Tony invited us to his living room to watch a marathon on Nick at Nite' vibe. Odd but welcome. I might become a member, we'll see. I could rent equipment! Woo woo!

I am pleased to announce that Andrea has been accepted into UW's laboratory of policy-making supergeniuses, known to the public as the DJ Evans School of Public Affairs. Congratulations on grad school! Elicia is also joining her, albeit 2,000+ miles away, at some other grad school. What are you doing, anyway? I don't know, but congratulations to both of you smart womens.

Thanks for all the camera reviews in my last post - I have a lot of 'splaining researching to do. I've discovered that every day I *don't* have a camera, photogenic and strange events happen all around me. This weekend - clowns in the bar. Yesterday, I saw a man riding a bike in a giant foam cowboy hat. Today I saw a guy holding a yardsale with the sign 'Yard Sale! Buy $10 and get a cold brew!' He was also in his yard, holding up a separate sign and announcing 'Buy a piece of my yard!' These occurences will immediately cease once I have a camera.

I think I would like to see a puppet show.

Ok - so, I'm buying a very special t-shirt from the UK, and have the option to print something on the back. I'd like to print mike.karikas.com, but that's a bit long, and people don't seem to remember the word Karikas very well, let alone the spelling. So - I need an easy-to-remember shorthand for this site. I've checked the available domains, and here are a few that are available:

- mikeXtreme.com
- colonelmike.com
- mikespants.com
- mikeisgood.com
- mikepoop.com / poopmike.com

Any feedback or new ideas? I need to order this thing before Miko heads back to the States.

There's a Space Ninja at work now.