ANNOYED GRUNTS

The Simpsons Movie got a thumbs-down at something called “The Hackademy Awards,” an event run by an anti-smoking group called Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails designed to counter positive portrayals of cigarette smoking in movies. The scene that raised their ire: the 3-second shot of Jimbo smoking with Dolph, “which is the kind of potent endorsement of smoking the group opposes.” Remember: smokers are jokers. [canada.com]

WAGON TRAIN

Matt Groening and David X. Cohen provided one of the night’s several references to the writer’s strike as they approached the podium with strike signs to collect their award for Futurama: Bender’s Big Score (Best Home Entertainment Production). Cohen joked that the writers had granted the Annie Awards a waiver for that one category alone. After winning the Annie for Music in an Animated TV production, The Simpsons composer Alf Clausen thanked Groening for using L.A. studio musicians and a 35-piece orchestra for every episode of his long-running show. He was modest as always comparing himself to Elizabeth Taylor’s eighth husband. “I know what to do, but I don’t know how to make it interesting!”

Hey idiots, the strike’s over! [Animation Magazine]

D'OH REPORT

The Simpsons Movie lost out to a Michael Bay movie based on a cartoon from the 1980s designed to sell toys in a worthless category (“Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet”) at Sunday night’s MTV Movie Awards. [No Homers Club]