It's true that the Oscars are traditionally held at a time when many of the nominees (especially the end-of-year bait) are not available on home video, much less in our collections. There are a number of titles available for rent, though. I'm going to try to finally catch up on Grand Budapest Hotel if we do start this week.

If you live near a Japanese video store you can find animated feature nominee THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA, the only nominated film I'm in a position to recommend.

If you have a Netflix subscription, both Ida and Virunga are available.

I was fortunate enough to see English dub of The Tale of Princess Kaguya at a Studio Ghibli retrospective in Oklahoma City. I've seen two other animated feature nominees: Big Hero 6 and How to Train Your Dragon 2. While I really loved HTTYD2, I believe Kaguya to be the better film. Both deliver on the emotional level, but I found the animation of the latter much more beautiful. I cannot wait to see it again, hopefully the subbed version.

I wouldn't mind seeing it start with the nominations being announced--it is a weird length I guess but it's fitting. Plus I usually end up seeing one or two of the best picture nominees I've missed the weekend after they are announced, because I try to see them all (makes watching the show better if I've seen everything) and be cool to get to count them in the Academy Award challenge.

Is it happening? I'm eager to start watching more nominees, especially for this year.

Travis has passed the baton over to me so I will get the ball rolling. We'll officially, officially start on the 24th which as Mao pointed out will give us 30 days. However, if folks watch current nominees between yesterday and the 24th, those viewing will count.

I'll get the discussion and the list threads up and running in a few minutes. This is my first time running a challenge so be gentle.

We'll go easy on you, and try to do our best not to run you off.

Thanks, lisadoris!