Twitch

Twitch may refer to:

Physiology

Entertainment

Twitch (device)

A twitch is a device that is used to restrain horses for various stressful situations, such as veterinary treatment. Although it may look and sound inhumane, a twitch calms the horse by releasing endorphins as pressure is applied on the twitch, not causing the horse any pain. It is usually made up of a stick-like handle loop of chain or rope on the end, or a metal ring with a rope loop which is wrapped around the upper lip of the horse and tightened. Another design, sometimes called a "humane" twitch, is a plier-like clamp that squeezes the lip with motion akin to that seen in a nutcracker. The aluminium screw twitch is yet another form of twitch.

How the twitch works

The upper lip of the horse is grasped and the loop of chain or rope is placed around it, then the handle of the twitch is twisted until the loop is firmly around the lip. A wooden handled twitch has the disadvantage that it requires a handler and the handle may injure the horse handler if the horse throws its head. Other twitches may be attached to the halter or headcollar. An emergency twitch can be improvised by placing a loop of leather or heavy cord around the nose and tightening it by twisting a stick around and around until it is tightened sufficiently.

Twitch (film)

Twitch is a Student Academy Award-nominated short film directed by Leah Meyerhoff.

Twitch kicked off the film festival circuit by winning a Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance and going on to screen in over 200 film festivals worldwide. Twitch has since won over a dozen international awards and is currently airing on the Independent Film Channel and Skandinavia TV.

Plot

Twitch tells the story of a young girl torn between two worlds: her domestic life, where she must care for her mother who uses a wheelchair, and her escape into the emerging world of sexuality with her eager, hormone-addled boyfriend. Leah's mother plays the Mother role in an essentially autobiographical role for the filmmaker. The making of the film was a component of the IFC series Film School, chronicling the first time filmmaking efforts of four New York University graduate film school students.

Cast

Awards

Rejected

Rejected is an animated short comedy film by Don Hertzfeldt that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2000. It received 27 awards from film festivals around the world.

Rejected has a cult following and has grown into a pop culture icon that is frequently quoted or referenced. In 2009, it was the only short film named as one of the "Films of the Decade" by Salon.com In 2010, it was noted as one of the five "most innovative animated films of the past ten years" by The Huffington Post.

Story

A fictional frame story explains that Hertzfeldt was commissioned to do animated segments for commercials and television network interstitials, but they were all rejected upon receipt. This is followed by a collection of short, surreal vignettes, presented as a reel of rejected corporate advertising work. According to the frame story, Hertzfeldt was assigned to do commercial segments for the Family Learning Channel, which were rejected after review. He would later do commercials for the Johnson & Mills Corporation, which was rejected straight. After the Johnson & Mills Corporation Advertisements, the frame story states that Hertzfeldt began finishing commercials and shorts with his left hand. After the short segments, the story says that the rejected cartoons were running out of control, and later on fell apart. The animator begins to break down mentally and the animated world he created literally begins to (like the frame story said) fall apart, brutally killing all of his characters in the process.

Rejected (horse)

Rejected (foaled 1950) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse whose wins included the Hollywood Gold Cup in track record time and Santa Anita Handicap, the two most important races in California open to older horses.

Bred and raced by Robert Kleberg's King Ranch, Rejected was trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Buddy Hirsch.

References

Rejected (EP)

Rejected is an independently released EP by American singer Ben Jelen. The EP failed to appear on any charts in the U.S. and, apart from the recordings released as part of his appearance on Sessions@AOL, was the only material released by Jelen after his departure from Maverick Records until he signed to Custard Records and released his subsequent album, Ex-Sensitive. The album is still available for download on iTunes.

The song "Baby Girl" features Jelen's brother Sebastian and was written for their sister Nina's funeral when she died in the summer of 2005.

Track listing