I’m getting an award!

The Annie Award nominations were announced this morning. The big news is that the juried awards are going to John Kricfalusi, John Canemaker and Glen Keane (getting The Winsor McCay Award, for lifetime achievement), and to Jonathan Gay, Gary Grossman and Robert Tatsumi, the creators of Flash computer software (recieving the Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement). And little ‘ol me will be recieving the June Foray Award for “significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation”. I’m not sure what to say… except that I’m sincerely honored!

The Annie committees also nominated Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie, Persepolis, Surf’s Up! and Bee Movie for Best Animated Feature; Everything Will Be OK (Bitter Films), How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (Walt Disney Feature Animation), Mascot Prep (Walt Disney Television Animation), The Chestnut Tree (Picnic Pictures), and Your Friend the Rat (Pixar) for Best Animated Short Subject. Click here for the full list of nominees and winners. The Awards will be presented Friday February 8th at a new location, Royce Hall (on the UCLA Campus) in Westwood. Tickets are now on sale, more information here.

Join me this Saturday, December 1st at 1pm, at the Van Eaton Gallery where I’ll be signing my new book The Hanna Barbera Treasury. The book turned out rather well - but don’t take my word for it, read Sherm Cohen’s rave review and Leonard Maltin’s endorsement.

Please don’t be shy. We’ll be serving Cocoa Pebbles! I’ll be hanging out eager to talk Yogi, Huck, Quick Draw and Boo-Boo. I’ll even sign my other books (if you bring them). For more information: Van Eaton Gallery website.

Our friend Steve Schneider has brought his traveling exhibit of original Warner Bros. cartoon production art to Redding California. What’s Up Doc? The Art Of Warner Bros. Cartoons is currently on display through January 6th at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park, in the Turtle Bay Museum. Those of you spending the holidays in northern California should certainly check it out. It’s open everyday except Tuesday.

For decades, the animation art form has been shunned by the mainstream art establishment, but it seems as if we are slowly witnessing a shift in sentiment towards the treatment of animation as art. The evidence can be found in the increasing number of animation-related exhibits at major galleries and institutions. Just in the past few weeks, I’ve linked to the online exhibit “Animated” put on by the Australian National Portrait Gallery and the “Animated Painting” show at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Now folks in Los Angeles also have the opportunity to see a cartoon-related show that opened a few weeks ago at the MOCA Geffen in downtown LA. Titled “© MURAKAMI”, it is a retrospective of the work of Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami, whose paintings, sculptures and installations all use a strong cartoon idiom. The exhibition also includes a preview of Murakami’s first major animated work, a highly stylized CG film called kaikai and kiki. If you can’t make it to the show, there’s a 330-page exhibition catalogue which can be purchased on Amazon. The MOCA website also has an artist-guided video tour of the show, as well as other video clips including a trailer for his animated film.

(Thanks, Chansoo Kim)

Lest you think we’ve forgotten about Cartoon Dump, our monthly live comedy/cartoon show at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood, we haven’t.

In fact, we’ve got an amazing show lined up this month - it’s our “Thanksgiving Holiday Spectacular” and the cartoons won’t be the only turkey’s on the program. Frank Conniff, Erica Doering, Joel Hodgson and I will be joined by guest comedian Patton Oswalt (voice of Remy in Ratatouille). And Pow Wow The Indian Boy will make an appearance. 8pm, Tuesday November 27th. For reservations click here.

Starting today and continuing through the weekend, New Yorkers will be treated to a three-part Museum of Modern Art retrospective of the work of director Michael Sporn. The films being shown include Sporn’s adaptations of classic children’s books by the likes of William Steig, Quentin Blake and Mordicai Gerstein, as well as his adaptation of the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snark.” I wish I was out east for these programs because I have enjoyed the pared-down elegance of the few Sporn films I’ve seen over the years like Doctor De Soto and The Man Who Walked between the Towers. The films being screened are:

Program 1: New York Stories
Five short films by Michael Sporn: Mona Mon Amour, Champagne, The Man Who Walked between the Towers, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, The Little Match Girl

Program 2: Fables
Four short films by Michael Sporn: Doctor De Soto, Abel’s Island, The Red Shoes, The Hunting of the Snark

Program 3: A Peaceable Kingdom
Five short films by Michael Sporn: Goodnight Moon, The Marzipan Pig, The Amazing Bone, Ira Sleeps Over, The Story of the Dancing Frog

On Monday, November 12, the series concludes with a discussion between Michael Sporn and John Canemaker. Here’s the description of that program:

An Evening with Michael Sporn
The artist takes part in a conversation with animation historian/filmmaker John Canemaker and MoMA assistant curator Joshua Siegel. The discussion is illustrated with clips from Sporn’s award-winning animated films, including a new short, Pab’s First Burger, and an excerpt from his feature-length work-in-progress about the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. Sporn’s career is also traced through his commercials, public service announcements, title sequences, and visuals for the Broadway stage.

Historian Michael Barrier also has some thoughts on Sporn’s work that are worth a read.

I’m en route to Columbus Ohio today to screen The Worst Cartoons Ever at the Wexner Center tomorrow night (11/8). The actual screening starts at 7pm.

But join me first at 6:00pm for a book signing - I’ll have free Hornswiggle buttons and postcards to give away, and I’ll be bringing an advance copy of my new book The Hanna Barbera Treasury to show off.

This will also be the launch party for my new DVD with Rembrandt Films, The Worst Cartoons Ever Made!. We shot video of me introducing these awful animated shorts in a big empty field during the picnic at the Platform Animation Festival in Portland. The video came out great - if you can’t get out to Columbus or the San Diego Comic Con, this is the next best thing. Order your copy today from Rembrandt.

The LA Times has an in-depth profile about the new “Animated Painting” exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art. The show, which runs through January 13, 2008, features “25 cinematic works by 14 international contemporary artists who adapt traditional painting and drawing methods to the concepts and technologies of animation.” Participating artists are the Barnstormers, Sadie Benning, Jeremy Blake, Sebastián Díaz Morales, Kota Ezawa, Ruth Gómez, William Kentridge, Ann Lislegaard, Takeshi Murata, Serge Onnen, Julian Opie, Wit Pimkanchanapong, Qiu Anxiong, and Robin Rhode.