The nominees meet their latest Academy guest Bill Kroyer (r).

Well, the second to last tour stop brings the filmmakers to Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks. For Emud, it was a return to his workplace where he is on the Disney live-action/CG flick, "G-Force." He was thankful that Sony gave him ten days off to tour both in San Francisco and L.A.

We arrived and were greeted by a dapper looking Don Levy, marketing master for Sony, who had to leave us early to hand out an award at the publicist's awards that afternoon. For each stop of the L.A. leg, Ron invited a different member of the Academy board. At Sony, the filmmakers had the pleasure of meeting Bill Kroyer. FX was particularly impressed with meeting someone who worked on "Tron." Bill shared a story of "Ice Age" director Chris Wedge entering x-sheet data into the computer on the film. Bill said he was glad that Chris stuck with computers after the job.

Oktapodi's Julien Bocabeille and I talked over lunch.

For more than a decade, I’ve been a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Short Film and Feature Animation Branch. Each year I look forward to our fall screenings where we get to see the finest short animated films from around the world and select the five nominees. It’s like attending the best film festival in the world.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending the day with the filmmakers of three of the nominated shorts — "Oktapodi," "Lavatory Lovestory," and "La Maison en Petite Cubes" — as they were welcomed into and toured the “birthplace” of American animation – Walt Disney Studios.

The nominees - Oktapodi's Emud Mokhberi (l-r), Oktapodi's Thierry Marchand, Lavatory Lovestory's Konstantin Bronzit, La Maison's Kunio Kato, This Way Up's Alan Smith, This Way Up's Adam Foulkes, and Presto's Doug Sweetland

The screening at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences is always an exciting event for the nominees. Sell out crowds are eager to see the films and are always very receptive. The screening is also a big press event with the nominees juggling interviews and photo ops with news outlets from around the world.

The tour poses for a pic with the Animation Resource Library archivists in front of background painted for a Donald Duck promotional tour.

As the tour swings from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the Oscar Travelogue switches chroniclers from Barbara Robertson to Rick DeMott.

Walt Disney kicks off the L.A. leg. For a touch of morning inspiration, we gathered at the Animation Resource Library. Having traveled with the Oscar Tour for the past two years in both San Fran and Los Angeles, it feels strange coming in midstream. I missed out on the bonding that took place in the Bay Area as the filmmakers from around the globe were getting to know each other. For the "Oktapodi" crew, the tour was the first chance for them to be together since graduating from Gobelins. Julien Bocabeille and Thierry Marchand, who both work for DreamWorks in Bangalore, India, joined FX, Olivier, Quentin and Emud, who already had a taste of the tour last week. Joining the six "Oktapodi" directors were Konstantin and Kunio, who having met for the first time in San Fran, have clearly bonded quickly, despite not speaking the same language.

From France to Skywalker Ranch - four of the six Oktapodi directors - Olivier, Francois, Emud and Quentin.

On Friday the 13th, the Oscar tour made stops throughout the Lucas empire, including Skywalker Ranch, Big Rock, and ILM. Here some the great pics from the adventures.

Ron introduces the boys to PDI's Eric Darnell and Gail Curry.

The two and a half day fast forward is behind us, now. The nominees are on their way to Los Angeles for part two of Ron Diamond’s Oscar Tour, although for the second half, I don’t think he’ll be driving the giant white van (generously donated by PDI/DreamWorks), which he, amazingly, managed to squeeze into the only parking place in San Francisco’s Mission District that was big enough and still within walking distance to the ASIFA dinner. Finding a parking place for a Smart Car in San Francisco is hard, but somehow, the reality matched Ron’s optimism that it would all work out.

The filmmakers meet the George Lucas.

It's been a busy an exciting three days, but such a wonderful time. Some highlights and pictures. I’ll sketch in details tomorrow.

Oktapodi's Emud Mokhberi, Robot Communications' Taki Tsuyoshi, Ron Diamond, Ed Catmull, Lavatory Lovestory's Konstantin Bronzit, Oktapodi's Olivier Delabarre, Oktapodi's Quentin Marmier, Gobelins' Eric Riewer, Oktapodi's Francois-Xavier Chanioux, and La Maison's Kunio Kato.

Every year Pixar host the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short. It's always an exciting chance for the filmmakers to interact with the artists at the studio. Follow their day in pictures.

Tour host Ron Diamond (l) and Lavatory Lovestory's Konstantin Bonzit.

Nine of us gathered in the lobby of the elegant Sofitel Hotel in an industrial park in San Carlos, California somewhere south of the San Francisco airport, to begin the Bay Area leg of the Oscar Tour.

The nominees at this first meet and greet were: Kunio Kato, age 31, the director of “La Maison en Petites Cubes;” Konstantin Bronzit, age 43, the director of “Lavatory Lovestory;” and three “Oktapodi” directors, Olivier Delabarre 28, Quentin Marmier 26, and Francois Xavier Chanioux 26.

Robot Chicken panel treats fans to talent and sneak peeks.

When the New York Comic Con premiered four years ago, its exhibit area was a relatively small but instantly overcrowded portion of the Javits Convention Center’s basement space. This year’s exhibitors filled the high-ceilinged main floor, a football-field sized area where you could score anything one’s geekish heart desired while dodging the multitude of Rorschachs prowling the convention.

Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] panels are usually as off-the-wall as the shows themselves, and this year was no exception. CN exec Keith Crofford, the hour’s default grown-up introduced a panel that included Seth Green, Brecken Meyer, Kevin Shinick, Matt Senreich and Geoff Johns. Jokes, ad-libs and non-sequiturs flew fast and furious, as the panel more or less explained the creative process that goes into scripting the free-form show, with the panel at one point riffing for close to ten minutes off a single audience question.