2026 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts

Life with a near-two-year-old is rewarding and challenging. One challenge was that I had to forgo my usual theater screening of the animated short nominees. This was a serious bummer, because it's a tradition I hold dear, but scheduling just didn't work out.

As a silver lining, 4 of the 5 shorts are available to watch on YouTube, and, since they're all under 20 minutes, they are easy to access. Here, then, are the four I was able to watch:

Forevergreen

Blehhhhhh. Like The Giving Tree, but somehow even worse? A bear is raised by a tree, and then there's some really heavy-handed Christian symbolism, which, just to hit you over the head, they make even more explicit by quoting the Gospel at the end of the short. Not bad animation, but a hackneyed plot, and a trite tale. I really hope this doesn't win.

Retirement Plan

This seems to be the one the money's on to win, and I can see why: it's legitimately funny, and just poignant enough without straying into cloying. The animation style is nice, too, if not overwhelmingly interesting or anything. Wouldn't mind at all if it won. 

Papillon

A visually impressive undertaking, this tells the real story of a Jewish Middle Eastern man who represented France in swimming in the years leading up to WWII. A sort of Jesse Owens figure, I appreciated the pastels and almost Gaugin-like style, especially when focused on his family and tropics. Would not mind at all if this won.

The Girl Who Cried Pearls

This is a beautiful piece of animation - and visually more captivating than the rest, with a stop-motion marionette style. The story-telling is also possibly the best of the set - although this was an admittedly strong year for three of the four. Slightly rooting for this one, but only a hair more than Retirement Plan and Papillon.

And that's it. If The Three Sisters ends up winning... Well, I guess I'll have to hope they put it online.

NaNoReMo 2026

Late start this year! I was reading a book that was leant to me, the fantastic Wolf Hall, and only just finished it yesterday. So whether I get through my NaNoReMo book by the end of March, or a couple weeks into April - I am giving myself a bit of grace.

NaNoReMo stands for 'National Novel Reading Month' - an idea I came across from the superlative John Wiswell. I do not think he does it anymore, but the premise I still find valuable: Find a novel you've always meant to read, set aside March, and read it. Check that tome off your bucket list, or that genre work you've heard good things about, the classic everyone's supposed to get to - and finish it before the month's end.

This year I am reading The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin:

Like many a high school student, I was wrecked by her famed short story 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas'. Now I am finally going to give her novel-length work a shot, with a sci-fi classic. Wish me luck - and good luck on your own NaNoReMo challenge.