Short Cartoons You saw the nominees for the Live Action Short Film Academy Award last night; come back to the ICA for the contenders in the animated category. Formats include traditional 2D animation, CGI, and claymation. Check out the John Lennon interview film "I Met the Walrus." Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Avenue, South Boston, 7:00pm. $7/$9. Recover Heal a broken heart with laughter. Ben Karlin has assembled a collection of raucous breakup......

Books --Charles Bock's Beautiful Children isn't as delicate as it sounds. A couple reels after their child vanishes in the Las Vegas desert--only it's so, so much more than that, and it's received a flood of attention. The Globe thought Bock threw too much into his debut, but everyone seems to agree that he's ambitious. Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm, free. Speaking of free, he's letting you download the book without dropping a single dime.......

We happened upon a movie trailer at the theater this past weekend when we were brushing up on our films for Oscar night. We discovered that this summer a film will be coming out that, judging by the trailer, won't be in contention for an Academy Award next year. They've taken Underdog the cartoon show and made it into a CGI heavy, live action film. Watch the trailer and you'll see some nice shots......

Just minutes after midnight The Departed took home two big awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started handing out Oscar statues at around 8:45 pm (here on the east coast, much earlier for those watching it in Hollywood). The Departed was our local favorite and hit 4 out of 5. Alan Arkin, who won the Oscar for Actor in a Supporting Role, may have been good in Little Miss Sunshine but......

Even though Apple has yet to release the "true video iPod", Bostonist digs the video podcasts. This week, we offer up a gem of a vodcast, Hello the Podcast. Hello the Podcast is a video podcast that tells the stories of twenty-somethings living in the Boston area. This is, essentially, season two of the Hello Simon podcast. Episode one of this season of the podcast begins with Simon leaving Harry (the narrator). Wait, should we......

Bostonist is itching to get out of work today and go see this year's The Animation Show. We caught it last year and it renewed our faith in all things cartoon. Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead) and Don Hertzfeldt (Billy's Balloon) created the project to showcase the best of animation world. This year will feature, among others, a new short by Mr. Hertzfeldt (The Meaning of Life), an Academy Award nominee (Guard Dog) and......

Bostonist has a love for things that are a little quirky. Michel Gondry is a quirky, and we love him for it. The winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (which he co-wrote and directed) will be at MIT this evening for a presentation. Bostonist has to admit it wasn’t until the second time that we watched "Eternal…" that we really understood what was going on,......