You may not have the chance to see the Oscar-Nominated Live Shorts (or the Animated ones, for that matter), and you probably will not even see who wins at the ceremony.

Hell, you may not even know that there are Academy Awards for shorts. I forget from time to time myself. After all, who goes to see shorts anywhere outside of a film festival? Do they even exist outside of film festivals?

No matter. Honestly, as far as the Academy’s selections, you’re not missing too much this year. I have a bit of a beef with the Academy for overlooking the best short of last year (hell, one of the best movies of last year, Jon Goldman’s fantastic Diplomacy).

There’s some charming films, and the best part is that all five directors look very promising. Only two of the selections (Pentecost and Raju) feel constrained by the running time; the former stretches on too long and the latter needed more. Time Freak andThe Shore are comfortable and left me wanting more, and Tuba Atlantic is a pleasantly self-contained eccentricity that’s totally Norway. Totally.

Anywho, on to the films. I’m going to provide a quick, TV-Guide-style summary and then include my thoughts.

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Even though Apple hasn’t officially announced the iPhone 5 (even though we all know it’s coming) that hasn’t stopped one company in Germany from deciding to go ahead and start taking pre-orders for it anyway. That’s right, if you happen to be a customer of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom beginning today you may begin reserving Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone.

As a service to its customers, the company will hand out coupons to customers who reserve the device. This will take place regardless of the fact that Apple has confirmed no features, specs or a release date for the iPhone 5. Heck, we don’t even know if it will actually be called the iPhone 5.

Still, it’s awfully nice of Deutsche Telekom to take pre-orders. I wonder if they will start charging customers immediately or wait until the devices actually ship? Let’s hope they wait.

Apple is expected to launch a fifth-generation iPhone and an updated fourth-generation model some time next month. I’m willing to say that’s probably pretty accurate. Fingers crossed the iPhone 5 is amazing.

Are you guys excited for a new iPhone? Sound off in the comments.

(Note: That is not a picture of the actual iPhone 5. In case you were wondering)

Every once and awhile, a groundbreaking idea creeps into the world of film and has experts and connoisseurs puzzled at exactly how it will play out to a mass audience. Whether it’s something like 3D that hits it big, or something that flops like “4D”, there is always room for new ideas and potential leaps in technology when it comes to the theatrical experience.

13th Street, a production company out of Germany, has recently tested out their newest project, which combines the classic horror film with the interactivity of a modern game show. Each viewer uses their cell phone to call in to the service and at the beginning of the film, one of them is chosen at random to “speak directly” with the film’s protagonist. From there, that person gives voice commands that dictate which direction the character will go, and what they will say.

Obviously, there are some pretty big potential flaws with this idea, such as “who wants to watch a movie when it’s encouraged for some jerk to scream at the screen?” or “why would I spend money for somebody else to interact with the film?” These are all valid points, which means that we could still be years away from seeing this project take off internationally.

The sheer idea that something like this is on the way only means that we’re getting that much closer to a Back to the Future 2-like lifestyle, which is exciting in it’s own right. Check out the trailer for Last Call and see exactly how it all works after the jump.

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