Short Cuts

Odds 'n' Sods Dept.: You may remember a couple of weeks back we made note of the fact that a pair of Austinites were up for the hideously prestigious Roy W. Dean Writing/Research Grant competition. Well, the two in question -- coordinating producer Karen Bernstein and director Ellen Spiro ("Roam Sweet Home") -- are now among the 10 finalists for the honor, described as "the Oscar of film grant awards," with their in-production documentary Girl Scouts Beyond Bars. According to the press release we received, the grant is awarded to "only one deserving filmmaker ... whose films meet the grant's mission of forwarding projects that help humanity," which, sadly, means that Bob Ray's Rock Opera II: The Stoning will likely never receive one, and my tagline for that as-yet-unrealized epic -- "Bong the gang slowly" -- will likely go to waste. Bernstein and Spiro, on the other hand, are close enough to taste funding. Good luck to both, again... It's never too early to plan your spring around the wealth of excellent film and media courses that the Austin Museum of Art offers at their Laguna Gloria campus during their spring session, chiefly because on Dec. 26 you're going to want to do anything but eat more ham and reconfigure Junior's limbic system after that tragic "Segway 4 Kidz!" accident. That and the fact that AMOA's courses tend to sell out and are generally some of the best film discussions around. This season the museum is offering Deeper Into Film, which sounds nicely risqué, but, we fear, isn't, running Jan. 26-Feb. 23. Later in the season you can glom on to Art and Cinema, Women in the Director's Chair, Mondays at the Movies, and something new, the Television Work of James Dean 1951-1955 (right about the time he started hanging out with Vampira, actually). Several of these classes -- we're not sure which ones just yet -- will be taught by former Chronicle scribe Alison Macor, which is always a good thing. Call the Art School at 323-6380 or go to www.amoa.org for registration info and more... Festivus, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Christmas, or, our personal favorite, Screaming Black Yak Day -- whatever you're celebrating this week, have fun, and remember: "For relaxing times, make it Suntory time." (And if you get that, you'll definitely want to check this out: www.areyouawake.org/archives/000018.html.)