Sunday, February 4, 2018

Animated Thoughts: the Annie Awards


Well, the 45th Annie Awards ceremony has come and gone was tonight. Some random thoughts I had during the ceremony:
  • Loved the vintage drive-in theater intermission animations that they played while waiting for the ceremony to start. A lot of them had this nice UPA feeling to them.
  • Should prepare a short 'thank you' script ahead of time, folks. Glenn and Kobe really handled it well though.
  • Very happy to see Samurai Jack getting some love!
  • Very touching video showcasing memories of June Foray.
  • They found a UPA print that was never released? Wow!! When do we get to see it?
  • Putting the student films Cradle, Elsewhere, and Once a hero on my list of films to track down.
  • Wished that Negative Space had won the Best Animated Short Subject. :/
  • Very, very happy to see Samurai Jack getting some love at the Annies.
  • Glad to see Studio MDHR Entertainment get recognized with a special achievement award for their use of traditional 2d animation in their game  Cuphead.
  • Lots of lovely animation work being produced using TV Paint.
  • Studio MDHR got the Character Animation in a Video Game award for Cuphead and it was very well deserved.
  • I can't wait to see the Big Bad Fox & Other Tales. I also can't help but think that if the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema was still around, I would've seen it already.
  • Very, very, VERY happy to see Samurai Jack getting some love! It's long overdue.
  • Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis win the Winsor McCay Award, another well deserved award.
  • Wow!!! Rick and Morty won for Writing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production for that awesome Ricklantis episode. Congrats to Ryan Ridley and Dan Guterman.
  • Y'know, every time I see anything from We Bare Bears, it makes me wish I had Cartoon Network on my basic cable package.
  • "PICKLE-RICK!!!!"
  • Did they just give away the winner of the Best Animated Feature - Independent before showing the clips?
  • Y'know, I'm glad to see Nory Twomy get some well-deserved recognition for directing the Breadwinner (the first solo-woman director to win an Annie for Best Animated Feature), but I was still pulling for Loving Vincent. ;)
Congrats to all the winners and nominees.