Last night, the second annual Moby Awards for the best(and worst) book trailers was held at Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn — and onceagain, Slate ‘s Troy Patterson, who assessed the genre in 2009 , was onthe judging panel.
For those of us who weren’t able to attend, we asked Troyfor a highlight reel of the night’s events. (See the full list of this year’s “goldensperm whale” winners here .)
Mary Roach’s videofor Packing for Mars won for besttrailer from a big house. Troy calls it “pretty much perfect.”
Ron Charles won thelifetime achievement award for his “TotallyHip Video Book Review” series on the WashingtonPost . His acceptance speech videowas “amazing,” says Troy. “He and semi-doppleganger Colbert need to worktogether.”
“I thought Sloane [Crosley]’svideo deserved to win in its category [’book trailer as standalone art object’],but also I voted for her on theprinciple that this award should work like all other literary awards, and thatjudges should vote for people they personally like.”
“Please note that [Jonathan Safran] Foer — whose awful Eating Animals trailer won a Worst award last year (andwas, I think, an inspiration for the event) — vindicated himself this year.” Foerwon for best trailer from a small house, for his Treeof Codes video.
“Please note that theprize is a Toys ‘R Us beluga whale spray-painted gold.”
“I think there’s an opportunity to mashup Franzen’svideo with the onefor It’s a Book .”
” Laura Miller ,among others, was disappointed that this didn’t win anything”:
“I was mildlydisappointed that Franco beat out Dennis Leary in the celeb category.”
And finally, Troy suggests you “amuseyourself amuse yourself with this runner-up in the worst small/no housecategory”:
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