Category Archives: Awards

The hits keep on comin’ for Idbids

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We can’t say that we’re surprised at the recent successes of Idbids; after all, what’s not to like about fun, soft toy characters who promote a love of taking care of our planet? Absolutely nothing, that’s what.

Still, when we last checked in with the Idbids gang, they’d just won yet another award, and no one would think any less of Scout, Lola and Waverly if the summer had been a quiet one.

But that’s just not the Idbids’ style, I guess. Since then, the Idbids have added two more feathers to their cap.

First, they nabbed Creative Child Magazine‘s Toy of the Year award for 2009. And furthermore, they’ve also garnered a Best Green Toy award in the 2009 Dr. Toy Awards.

Of course, the Idbids Store here at Ty’s is still ready to meet all of your Idbids needs; whether it’s the Idbids plush toys themselves (they’re on sale right now!) or personalized t-shirts, you’ll find them right here.

Congratulations on the recent successes, Idbids! I guess iddy biddy steps really can make a biggie big difference!

Annie nominations full of Kung Fu

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on the Annies site, of course, though Animated News has already done the math for us:

Kung Fu Panda leads all films with 17 nominations. Bolt was second with 9 nods, and WALL-E third with 8. Those three, along with $9.99 and Waltz with Bashir were tapped for Best Feature.

Well, I’ve at least seen the first three films on that list….

The Annie winners will be announced on January 30th, and until then we can all wildly speculate as to who will triumph. And also we can maybe go watch the nominees which haven’t actually come out yet. Ahem.

Tune in for the Teen Choice Awards tonight

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I’ll tell you right up front, here, that neither of my children are teens. Nor will they ever be. I mean, I assume they will eventually become teens whether I agree with it or not, but as soon as my oldest hits the teenage years I fully intend to enter the Witness Protection Program, thereby missing most of whatever it is that teens do to their parents. (This is not a frivolous plan. It isn’t. Hey, who asked you, anyway?)

All of this is to say that my children will not be checking out the Teen Choice Awards tonight on Fox, but perhaps your house shelters some of those mysterious teens I hear so much about, and perhaps inbetween eating you out of house and home and telling you how you’re completely ruining their lives, they’ll take a break to tune in.

I love this picture of Miley Cyrus from last year’s show; she looks so cute and sweet and adorable. Of course, Cyrus is hosting the awards this year, no doubt as part of her continued campaign to prove to the world that she’s All Grown Up Now, Thank You Very Much.

(Awwwww, don’t be like that, Miley. We still love you as Hannah Montana!)

In addition to seeing what sort of outfit the young hostess wears this year, you’ll want to tune in to find out what the kids are digging these days. You know, just in case you decide to stick around through the puberty poisoning.

PBS scores big with Daytime Emmy awards

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Just in case you missed it, the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were given our last Friday, and many of our favorite kid’ shows were recognized for excellence. PBS topped the list with 10 awards; for example, Sesame Street won “Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series,” bringing that show’s total Emmy count to seventy gagillion*.

Other awards of note to those of us with ankle-biters in the house:

  • Curious George won “Outstanding Children’s Animated Program”
  • The Backyardigans won “Outstanding Special Class Animated Program”
  • Wonder Pets won “Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition”
  • Both Greatest Inventions with Bill Nye and Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild won for “Outstanding Children’s Series”
  • Between the Lions won “Outstanding Writing in a Children’s Series”
  • “Outstanding Writing in Animation” went to both Peep and the Big Wide World and WordGirl

There are other awards, of course, but those are the ones of greatest interest to me. Of course, if you’re deeply moved by the Emmy The Price Is Right won for make-up, well then, to each his own. (My reaction, upon reading that: “Wait… The Price Is Right is still on the air? Isn’t Bob Barker 104?”)

Anyway, it was a pretty exciting day for some great children’s shows. Congratulations to all the winners!

* A “gajillion” is not really a number. Sesame Street has, in fact, won 117 Daytime Emmys, which is very close to seventy gajillion.

The best animated short films of 2007

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When the 2007 Academy Award nominees were announced, most of us probably paid little attention to the animated short films, because most of us probably haven’t seen any of them.

Let’s face it; if you’re reading here, most likely the animation you’re seeing is the stuff your kids beg for, and very little of that is going to include the “artsy” animated shorts that draw Oscar bids. Then again, perhaps you consider yourself an animation buff, in which case any failure to have taken in this year’s contenders may be bumming you out a bit. Darn life and responsibilities and commitments; you want to know which films you should make it your business to see.

The New York Times did a great piece on all of the nominated animated short films, starting off with a brisk caution to those who would dismiss this category as fluff:

It would be a mistake to assume that the 10 movies nominated this year for best live-action and animated short film in the Oscar sweepstakes are the kind of cinematic amuse-bouches often shown before the main feature at film festivals. Most are not trifles, and some range from 30 to 40 minutes long.

Among the animated films nothing resembles a traditional Disney cartoon. Sophisticated illustration, puppetry, stop-motion animation and digital wizardry are the order of the day.

Read the entire piece for the run-down; the entire program is about two-and-a-quarter hours long and is showing across the U.S. (Though not in my small town, darn it.) It may not be suitable for small children, but you‘re not a small child, are you? If it’s showing in your town, it sounds like it’ll be worth finding a sitter one of these nights.