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.

[Hey, it’s hard to follow up the Martin Luther King, Jr. post, okay? It’s not like I could possibly come up with anything nearly as important, so I’m afraid that produce-themed awards are all I have for you right now.]

Regular readers know that whenever I’m considering seeing a movie, my first move is always to go consult Rotten Tomatoes. Not only do they aggregate available reviews in the most entertaining way possible (why comb through dozens of reviews when you can read the funniest lines all on one page?), they provide the Tomatometer reading for every movie, giving you a quick visual on how positive or negative feedback has been, overall. (The Tomatometer is based on a 100% scale, too, which I find much more useful than a 5-star system. But I’m sort of a geek that way.)

Anyway, it’s time once again for the Golden Tomato awards; the 9th Annual Golden Tomato Awards, to be precise. With the Golden Globes having been sort of a letdown and the Academy Awards looking to be not much better (the WGA strike is really cutting into my entertainment, sheesh), I can take some small comfort in the Golden Tomatoes, perhaps. Although I always love the Golden Tomatoes because they’re based upon the best-reviewed films rather than on what people say we “should” like. The Golden Tomato winners are, quite simply, films that were universally well-received.

Ratatouille took first place for Animation, which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one.

If you need some giggles, also check out the recipients of the Moldy Tomato honor, as well. No animation appears in that category, though.

Although the Golden and Moldy Tomatoes are my favorite, I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the 28th Annual Razzies, as well. Apparently awful films deserve raspberries in addition to moldy tomatoes. I don’t know why. But I do know that—as a mom who has never understood the Bratz craze—I felt a smug little self-satisfied bit of glee to see that the Bratz movie garnered five separate nominations. Heh.

If I ever start some movie awards, I’m thinking of naming them after avocados. Just because.

If you’re unfamiliar with KidScreen Magazine, they’re the folks with their finger on the pulse of the kids’ entertainment industry. No, they don’t deal in things like stage moms and little girls in fake eyelashes (ewww), but they do cover all manner of what kids are into and where those kids’ parents will spend their dollars to support those interests. They’re the folks in the know, is my point.

Well, it’s time for the KidScreen Best of the Year Awards:

We polled industry players to get a read on who made waves in 2007 that would likely resonate for years to come, and the result of that fieldwork is the following shortlist of candidates competing in six categories - Producer, Distributor, Broadcaster, Licensor, Licensee and Licensing Agent…of the Year.

Guess who’s up for Licensee of the Year? Go on, guess! That’s right. Ty’s Toy Box is in the running for this auspicious recognition. KidScreen didn’t hold back with the admiration, either, to which we said, “Don’t. Stop. No, really—don’t stop!” In describing Ty’s, KidScreen said:

Since launching three years ago with a dedicated boutique housing all products Wiggles-related, the e-tailer has expanded at a rapid clip and now features products based on roughly 80 licenses. But what’s put Ty’s Toy Box in the running this year is the unique approach it has taken to helping properties kick-start their consumer products sales in a retail climate that’s, er, less-than-hospitable to brand-new IP. Acting as both retailer and licensee, Ty’s broke ground with The Doodlebops, producing quick-turnaround soft goods such as t-shirts for the preschool band’s online storefront in 2006. From there, licensor Cookie Jar Entertainment was able to take sales results of the Ty-produced goods to existing and potential partners, and build out a larger mass retail program.

To keep momentum going this year, Ty’s opened up TTB Marketplace to service licensors. The key to TTBM is its relationship with drop-ship software service CommerceHub, which enables Ty’s to expand the retail reach of its licensor partners and improve its own product development capabilities. Through the system, suppliers ship directly to online customers, cutting down on inventory investment for Ty’s. The e-tailer then takes the savings and plows them into developing product and retail programs for properties with fanbases clamoring for product that isn’t yet available.

Ty’s is one of only two retailers nominated in the Licensee category, and is in excellent company amongst the other nominees—Character Options, Jakks Pacific, Mattel, and Steve & Barry’s.

Who will win the title? Well, that’s up the public. The voting is currently open and winners will be announced in January. The prize is a Doodlebops guitar! Oh, I kid. The prize is the satisfaction of a job well done. And also bragging rights.

But this is certainly one of those situations where (as corny as it may sound), it truly is an honor just to be nominated. Who would thunk a little company in Kentucky would one day be rubbing elbows with an industry giant like Mattel, vying for a “Best of” award? It’s pretty exciting. Thanks, KidScreen!

Have you been to the Habbo Hotel lately? No? Me neither, actually. My kids are still in the stage of life where they think that Webkinz are the be-all and end-all of online entertainment. (Yes. The dawn of the technology boom as we know it was predicated on Cash Cow, I am sure of it.)

But apparently Habbo is the place to be for teens who want a fun virtual environment. It’s part instant messenger, part arcade… I could be wrong, but from my quick exploration of it, it sort of seems like Second Life Lite.

Here’s the interesting thing, though—Habbo is hosting an animation contest with real prizes:

Habbo announced today the kickoff of the first worldwide Habbowood Digital Movie Awards 2007. Using the Habbowood MovieMaker tool, aspiring filmmakers are invited to take the director’s chair and create, star in and share their own animated movies in hopes of winning a Habbowood Award. For the first time ever, after claiming the top prize in Habbo.com, the winning film will be entered into a global contest against the winners from 18 other Habbo communities around the world to compete for a grand prize trip for two to Hollywood.

Available now on Habbo (www.habbo.com) for free, the MovieMaker tool is a comprehensive editing device that allows users to select from a wide range of virtual sets, props, special effects and mood music; cast Habbo “actors” and script dialogue to build scenes. Up to ten different scenes can then be combined using the MovieMaker tool to create an animated film up to five minutes long.

For the next ten days, the Habbo community, which numbers more than 15 million registered users in the U.S., will select the ten top films through a combination of page views and scaled ratings. Each day, the Habbo staff will choose a winner from this top 10 to comprise the final nominees which the Habbo community will vote on to select the Habbowood Award winner. The winner will be announced and special awards, such as Best Director, Best Writer, Best Actor and Best Actress, will be presented live in the Theaterdome during the virtual Habbowood Digital Movie Awards gala, on Sept. 21, 2007, starting at 4:00 pm (PDT)/7:00 pm (EDT).

That’s… well, that’s pretty cool, actually. And I think it says something about how important animation is to our kids (even into their teens) that this Habbowood thing has become such a big deal. Don’t believe me?

Habbo.com opened its doors to Habbowood three years ago. Last year, the hugely popular US movie contest garnered more than 140,000 animated short films. On a global level, Habbowood generated more than 700,000 movies last year.

That’s a whole lotta animatin’ going on, right there.

Go on… if you don’t already have big plans for this weekend (you know you don’t), take a trip to Habbowood. There’s bound to be a film or two worth watching, and maybe you’ll want to create your own. Er, maybe your kids will want to create their own, I mean. Right.

I always thought that the Emmys weren’t announced until all the famous people put on their slinky dresses and got made fun of by Joan Rivers, but it turns out that some awards are announced prior to the televised event. Imagine! I mean, it’s almost like how many thousands of dollars of jewelry people can borrow is not actually the point. I was surprised, too.

Anyway, I am a bit behind, but last week the winners of the individual achievement in animation Emmys were announced, and Cartoon Network took plenty of the honors.

(Oh, by the way, the article also enlightened me as to the timing: “Because the awards are juried categories, there are no nominations; the categories might have one, more than one or no winners each year. There were no Emmys awarded in the voice-over performance juried area this year.”)

Check out the list of Cartoon Network honorees:

– Sue Mondt, art director for Cartoon Network’s “Camp Lazlo,” episode “Squirrel Secrets,” from Cartoon Network Studios;

– Dave Dunnet, background key designer for Cartoon Network’s “Good Wilt Hunting” (”Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”), from Cartoon Network Studios;

– Narina Sokolova, background painter for Cartoon Network’s “My Gym Partner’s A Monkey,” episode “The Big Field Trip,” from Cartoon Network Studios;

– David Colman, character designer for Cartoon Network’s “Class of 3000,” episode “Eddie’s Money,” from Cartoon Network Studios;

– Phil Rynda, character designer for Cartoon Network’s “Billy & Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure” (”The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy”), from Cartoon Network Studios

Other notables include Sang-Jin Kim, an animator on Avatar: The Last Airbender (okay, that one’s with Nickelodeon, but you can’t fault a gal for being pleased at Avatar getting some recognition), and Cartoon Network animators Sihanouk Mariona and Thomas Smith pulling down awards for projects with ShadowMachine films.

On a related-but-not-really note, I keep forgetting to mention that Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix (the recent hour-long animated movie) dominated the ratings for boys ages 6-11 on its premiere night (Friday, August 10th). I wasn’t all that surprised, but the press release I received about it used lots of exclamation points and a large font, so I guess it’s even more exciting than I thought.

Clearly, Cartoon Network is on a roll. Congrats to the Emmy winners, and let’s see what you come up with next!

Yesterday marked the announcement of this year’s prime-time Emmy nominees, and so this seems like a good time to confess that I’m a total awards show junkie. Can’t get enough of ‘em. I mean, there are always shows I love which are overlooked by the awards committee(s), but sometimes the right show is recognized and there’s nothing quite like seeing something you really enjoy being recognized for the hard work that goes into it.

(The fact that you can also see a bunch of expensive dresses, outrageous hairdos, and funny commercials doesn’t hurt, either.)

Anyway, Animated News was on the scene immediately with the list of animation nominees.

Outstanding Animated Program (Programming Less Than One Hour)
•Avatar: The Last Airbender - “City Of Walls And Secrets” (Nickelodeon Animation Studio)
•Robot Chicken - “Lust For Puppets” (ShadowMachine Films)
•South Park - “Make Love, Not Warcraft” (Central Productions)
•SpongeBob SquarePants - “Bummer Vacation / Wig Struck” (Nickelodeon Animation Studio with United Plankton Pictures, Inc.)
•The Simpsons - “The Haw-Hawed Couple” (Gracie Films with 20th Century Fox)

My take: I think Avatar deserves to win, but I don’t know that it will. There’s been a lot of buzz about Robot Chicken, and with the Simpsons movie about to come out—despite the series having been around forever—people are sort of rediscovering it. So I just don’t know.

Outstanding Animated Program (Programming One Hour Or More)
•Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends - “Good Wilt Hunting” (Cartoon Network Studios)
•Hellboy Animated: Sword Of Storms (Starz Media with Revolution Studios)
•Secrets Of The Deep (Impossible Pictures with Discovery Channel)
•Camp Lazlo - “Where’s Lazlo?” (Cartoon Network Studios)

My take: If Foster’s doesn’t win this one, my faith in a just deity will be shaken. I know I went into that one already loving Foster’s, but Good Wilt Hunting was even better than I expected it to be. To me, it’s the clear front-runner. But I don’t get to vote. (Which is a travesty in and of itself. Clearly.)

The 2007 Emmy Awards Show will air this year on Sunday, September 16th at 8:00 PM. Mark your calendars and get ready to make fun of famous people. (Oops. Did I say that last part out loud? My bad.)

I could not be prouder of Ty’s Toy Box right now than if they were one of my own kids. Seriously, I am totally straightening their ties and combing their hair and whispering “You did such a good job!” to all of them in my mind right now. (They are also brushing me off and rolling their eyes and whispering “Mooooom, stop it!” too, in case you’re wondering.)

Every year LIMA (as in International Licensing Merchandisers’ Association, not as in beans) holds the International Licensing Excellence Awards to recognize, um, excellence in product licensing. Obviously. You can visit their site to learn more about LIMA, or just read this handy blurb:

Founded in 1985, LIMA is the worldwide trade organization for the licensing industry. LIMA’s main objective is to work together with licensors and licensees for the advancement of professionalism in licensing through research, national and international seminars and trade events as well as publications. With members in 25 countries, and offices in New York, London, Munich and Tokyo, members enjoy access to a wide variety of activities, information and benefits. LIMA is a proud sponsor of the annual Licensing International Show (New York), Brand Licensing (London), Licensing Forum (Munich) and Licensing Asia (Tokyo). In addition, LIMA now offers a Certificate in Licensing Studies (CLS) program, the only educational course specifically designed to prepare licensing professionals to succeed in the ever-changing licensing industry.

As you can imagine, it’s pretty darn exciting that Ty’s was nominated for Best Retailer of the Year for their Doodlebops Store alongside such market giants as Toys ‘R’ Us and Barneys New York. Even better, though, is that this is the first time an internet-only retailer has received this honor.

Think about that. History in the making, right here at Ty’s Toy Box. That’s pretty exciting, whether you’re a Doodlebops fan or not. It’s proof positive that you don’t have to be a gigantic, soulless big box retailer (oops, did I say that out loud?) to make a big splash in the world of retail.

Congratulations, Ty’s Toy Box. Whether you win or not, I’m so proud of you! (Also, you have a little cowlick right there. I can probably slick it down with a little bit of spit. Hey, where are you going?)

I probably should’ve brought this up earlier in the week, but we had other things to talk about. So now that it’s old news and everyone is completely over the Oscars, I’m going to talk about it anyway, because that’s just how I am. Also because I’m still annoyed.

No, I don’t want to talk about the dresses and the hair. I want to talk about Happy Feet winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

You might remember when I told you about the Annie Awards I linked to an article that mentioned that the Annie winner has gone on to nab the Oscar every year since the Academy started honoring feature-length animation. The assumption was that the Annie winner would also take the Oscar.

Now, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, for sure. But generally you can count on some consistency across major award shows; the Golden Globe recipients, for example, tend not to differ too much from the Oscar winners, either.

So let’s recap: This year, Cars won the Annie. Cars also won the Golden Globe. But Cars did not win the Oscar; Happy Feet did. And congratulations to Happy Feet! But I’m feeling confused.

Part of me—the part that likes to root for the little guy—is pleased when someone comes from behind to take the win, truly. On the other hand, I remember Happy Feet’s less-than-virtuous foray into medical sales and feel a little miffed that they brought home an Oscar.

I’m also wondering if the Arthur and the Invisibles disqualification from Animated Feature status had any effect on the outcome, as we had only three nominees this year instead of five (per the award guidelines). But I suppose there’s really no way to know.

(Cartoon Brew wrote an interesting piece on what this may mean for feature-length cartoons vs. motion capture, and it’s worth reading.)

Mostly I think I’m just sad that Monster House didn’t win. That was my favorite movie of the three nominees. Hmph.

On the heels of the recent discussion of the new animation category for the Golden Globes, it seems only fitting that yesterday the full list of Annie Awards nominees was made available.

Don’t know the Annie Awards? This February will mark the 34th annual event, in spite of the fact that the trophy/statue thing looks a lot like an ugly lamp. (I kid. I think it’s supposed to look like one of those things you spin and look inside the holes to see the pictures within appear to move. That would make sense, and be topical, whereas an ugly lamp would just be mean.) The awards are designed to honor excellence in animation, obviously, and are touted as “animation’s highest honor.”

There are six production categories (as well as a slew of other individual achievement categories, and the juried awards), and they’ll be worth keeping an eye on as we move into “awards season.” Here are the ones that pique my interest:

Best Animated Feature

* Cars – Pixar Animation Studios
* Happy Feet – Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Kennedy Miller Production in association with Animal Logic Film
* Monster House – Columbia Pictures Presents an ImageMovers/Amblin Production
* Open Season – Sony Pictures Animation/Columbia Pictures
* Over The Hedge – DreamWorks Animation

No surprises there. I’m pleased to see Monster House nominated; I don’t think it’ll win, but the kids and I really like it and it’s nice to see something that’s not about wacky animals or anthropomorphized vehicles make the cut.

Best Home Entertainment Production

* Bambi II – DisneyToon Studios
* The Adventures of Brer Rabbit – Universal Animation Studios
* Winnie the Pooh: Shapes & Sizes – DisneyToon Studios

Wait… there’s a second Bambi movie? Really?

Best Animated Short Subject

* Adventure Time – Nickelodeon
* Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot – Thunderbean Animation
* No Time For Nuts – Blue Sky Studios
* Weird Al Yankovic “Don’t Download This Song” – Acme Filmworks

I am a sucker for Weird Al. I don’t know if it deserves an Annie, but the song is brilliant. (Watch it here if you haven’t seen it before.)

Best Animated Television Production

* Charlie and Lola – Tiger Aspect Productions
* Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends – Cartoon Network Studios
* King of the Hill – Twentieth Century Fox TV
* The Fairly OddParents – Nickelodeon
* Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! – Film Roman, a Starz Media Co.

Well. Foster’s, obviously. I may even cry if Foster’s doesn’t win.

Two interesting factoids about the Annies to ramp your animation geekoid meter all the way up to eleven:

1) Animated News reports that for the first time ever, all of the Annie voting will be done online. Viva technology!

2) CNN points out that “[t]he winner of the Annie Awards has gone on to claim the Oscar for animated feature every year since the Academy Award for animation was created.”

That does rather diminish the suspense a bit, though I suppose we could hope for a historical upset by the time the Academy Awards rolls around. Just for fun.

As animated feature-length films continue to grow in popularity, it almost seems odd to realize that for the first time ever, the 64th edition of the Golden Globe Awards will have a dedicated category for animated films.

The announcement was made this past January:

Next year’s Golden Globes will offer a new category when the awards are announced in January, 2007.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association voted last month to establish “Best Animated Feature Film” commencing with “The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards” in 2007, it was announced today by Philip Berk, President.

[…]

The new category of “Best Animated Feature Film” brings the total number of Golden Globe Awards categories to 25 in addition to the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Well, duh (as my daughter might say). It’s about time, no? Gone are the days when you would sit in a dark theatre where cartoons romped onscreen, plying your children with popcorn while chaos from everyone else’s kids swirled around you. Well, hmm. Actually, I guess that’s not gone, but in addition to that you’ll now see something new: People without kids. Today’s animated flicks are for all ages, with appeal to a much wider audience than their predecessors.

And—let’s face it—they started giving out an Academy Award for animation in 2001. C’mon, Hollywood Foreign Press! What took you so long?

Anyway, the point is that animation is hot right now. Even still, I was surprised to see that there are 16 animated films qualified for the upcoming Golden Globes:

Sixteen animated feature films have been qualified for consideration for the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards honoring 2006 achievements, Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk annouced Wednesday.

Also qualifying are 184 live-action feature films (119 dramas and 65 comedies or musicals), 124 TV series (73 drama and 51 comedies), 38 mini-series or TV-movies, and 56 foreign-language films.

In addition, 88 songs are eligible for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

Well, I guess it doesn’t seem like so many, when compared to 184 live-action films. Still, 16 animated films with a shot at one of those shiny statues. Not too bad.

We’ll have to sit tight until the Golden Globes show on January 15th, but I can’t wait to see which 2006 offering goes home with the prize. I assume it’s going to be Cars, although there is a small part of me that would be really thrilled if it ended up being Curious George. Care to weigh in with your predictions?