Ever feel out of touch during the Oscars when they announce the nominees for best short or best animated short, and you haven't heard of, let alone seen, any of the nominees? Well, you're in luck! The Carolina Theatre is showing both categories starting this weekend. We had a chance to watch some of the animated shorts; highlights include Day & Night, the Pixar short that ran before Toy Story 3; The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan's adaptation of his surreal children's book about a boy who helps a strange cross between a hermit crab and a teapot find its way home; and The Gruffalo, an adaptation of a British children's book about a clever mouse who finds a way to outwit every predator with tales of a fictional creature before he finds himself facing a not-so-fictional creature.—Zack Smith