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For Immediate Release
Common House Pest Infests House of Commons
...And Cell Phones Everywhere
December 20, 2005, Toronto: Distributed for wireless
by Big Bang Pictures Ltd., Avery Ant, the animated
cellevision star whose "one minute rants" consistently
rank as one of the top downloads for Fun Little Movies,
a key provider of entertainment content for Sprint US
and other mobile carriers around the world, will be
available to Canadian mobile subscribers of Rogers
and Telus starting January 6. The launch of "Avery Ant"
on two of Canada's largest carriers coincides with
Avery Ant's campaign to become Prime Minister of Canada,
which kicks off today online at
http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2006/indexvote2006.html
With a war cry of "One PO'd PM," Avery Ant has a strong
following within Canada, along with an international fan base
that is learning about Canada and its social and political
issues through the spoof candidate. Avery Ant's last
campaign -- for Pope -- landed him in the United States
Library of Congress as part of the historic collection of
Internet materials related to the death of Pope John Paul II
and the election of a new Pope.
"Avery Ant is to the cell phone what SCTV was to
television," said Frank Chindamo, president of Fun Little Movies,
a driving force in the world of content creation and distribution
for cell phones, recently written up in Forbes,
The Wall Street Journal, Wired and in an LA Times cover story.
"A whole generation of Americans are learning about Canada through
an animated loud mouth schnook. Be concerned.
Be mildly, somewhat concerned."
Created and written by Mike Erskine-Kellie
(Jetix's Pucca; PBS's Zoboomafoo, CBC's Canada Now), "Avery Ant"
is distributed for wireless in Canada and internationally by
Big Bang Pictures Ltd., a division of The Nightingale Company
("Chicks With Sticks," "Lipstick & Dynamite," "Get Outta Town").
http://dnightingale.com/bbp
Said President Debbie Nightingale: "We're delighted to feature
"Avery Ant" in our wireless line-up. He certainly gets lots of
attention - in fact he insists on it!" The Big Bang catalogue
features over 2000 video clips and more than 3000 ringtones.
Avery Ant" and other Big Bang content, which includes "Sofia's Diary,"
a premium interactive program aimed at the teen market,
"Josey Vogel's Sexy Tips,"
"Rabbi Tzvi Freeman's Divine Digital Inspirations" and X-treme
sports content such as "Parkour" and "BMX"can be seen on more than
30 carriers around the world and will launch on Rogers and Telus
in Canada January 6, 2005. Big Bang additionally has a number
of animated ringtones about to hit the marketplace.
Avery Ant's election platform includes positions on education,
military spending and the environment - and can be found at
http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2006/pm.html The Avery Ant
website www.averyant.com features a political test where voters
can find out if Avery is the candidate for them at
http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2006/test.html
and sign up for his campaign at
http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2006/join.html
Written by Mike Erskine-Kellie, Avery Ant is voiced by one of
Canada's top voice talents, Adrian Truss
(Peter Jackson's "Jane and the Dragon")
and designed and animated by Brian McPhail
(The Halifax Film Company/Alliance Atlantis' "Lunar Jim").
www.averyant.com was designed and built by Communicopia,
a socially responsible creative online communications firm
who made international news last year with www.CanadianAlternative.com,
a website designed to promote Canada to Americans considering
emigration. Communicopia's client list includes
The United Nations Environment Programme, The National Film Board of
Canada and Loreto Bay, the largest sustainable community under
development in North America. ( www.communicopia.net )
A serial candidate, Avery Ant debuted during his run for
Prime Minister in the last Canadian election. He lost.
Then he ran for President of the United States. He lost that too.
His run at Popedom also ended in failure, but it was generally
recognized that his slogan "He's Pope-A-Licious!" was the snazziest
of all the Popefuls. www.averyant.com posts new rants every ten days
and its core demographic is 18-34.
Subscribers wishing to download Avery Ant and his one minute rants on
their cell phones can do so starting January 6 on Rogers at
www.shoprogers.com by selecting "Get TV/Video," then select
"Comedy," then select "Avery Ant." For Telus, subscribers should
go to www.telus.com and select "wireless web," then select
"Video Downloads," then select "comedy" and then select "Avery Ant."
Babble On Communications...providing cultural artifacts to the
Library of Congress since 2005.
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For additional information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Susan McLennan
Babble On Communications
s.mclennan@sympatico.ca
For Immediate Release:
Avery Ant’s Pope Campaign Shelved...
…At US Library of Congress
April 21, 2005 – Toronto: Avery Ant, the PO'd Pismire who threw his Miter into the ring with all the other Popefuls, will have his illustrious but unsuccessful campaign immortalized by the United States Library of Congress as part of the historic collection of Internet materials related to the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of a new Pope.
With the slogan "He's Pope-A-Licious!," Avery Ant's missionary statement saw the popular stop motion animated character promising to party like it's 1659! In the end, however, no white smoke came out of the anthill.
Inclusion in the Library of Congress did help lessen the blow of the loss. "I've been seeking immortality through sheep placenta and cryonics," said Avery Ant when informed of the honour. "But this’ll do."
The United States Library of Congress preserves its Nation's cultural artifacts and provides enduring access to them.
A serial candidate, Avery Ant debuted during his run for Prime Minister in last year's Canadian election. He lost. Then he ran for President of the United States. He lost that too. With talk of an imminent election in Canada, can the war cry of "One PO'd PM" be far behind?
In the months since its launch, www.averyant.com has developed a strong grassroots following through word of mouse. The site posts new rants every ten days and is currently site of the week at CBC's ZeD TV.
www.averyant.com, which hosts Avery Ant and His One Minute Rant, is a Babble On Communications property, created and written by one of its senior partners, Mike Erskine-Kellie (CanadaNow, Zoboomafoo, 2004 Harold Greenberg Award-winner).
Outside of its own development and production slate, Babble On Communications provides creative and pr/marketing services, largely for film, new media, home video/DVD and television properties, specializing in projects that are socially relevant, philanthropically inclined, funny or all of the above.
Babble On Communications…providing cultural artifacts to the Library of Congress since 2005.
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For additional information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Susan McLennan
Email: s.mclennan@sympatico.ca
www.averyant.com
http://www.averyant.com/VoteAveryforPope.htm
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For Immediate Release:
Gonzo Goes to Heaven -- Avery Ant Remembers Hunter S. Thompson - Gonzo But Not Forgotten
February 25, 2005, Toronto, On - As North Americans absorbed the news of Hunter S. Thompson's death, PO'd pismire and itchy hipster Avery Ant delivered a "groundbreaking" animated eulogy.
The tribute entitled "Gonzo Goes to Heaven," with the tag line "Gonzo But Not Forgotten," celebrates the gun-loving, booze swilling maverick journalist and author Thompson who died of an apparently self- inflicted gunshot wound earlier this week. Trademarked by Avery's inimitable style, "Gonzo Goes To Heaven" shows a gentler, kinder side of the ranting ant, who is known for his cynical take on the world and its newsmakers, including Ann Coulter, President Bush, John Kerry and Michael Moore.
www.averyant.com launched in conjunction with Avery Ant's 2004 campaign to become the Prime Minister of Canada. He lost. Avery Ant subsequently campaigned to be the President of the United States. He lost that too. A serial candidate, Avery Ant most recently threw his Miter into the ring of contenders for the position of Pope just days before John Paul II took ill with the flu-like illness that has plagued him for more than a month. Team Avery swears the timing was purely coincidental and boasts no inside knowledge or presentiment, Divine or otherwise. Honest.
www.averyant.com, which hosts Avery Ant and His One Minute Rant, is a brainchild of Babble On Communications, Inc. and one of its partners, Mike Erskine-Kellie, who was the recipient of a 2004 Harold Greenberg Award for his screenplay, "The New Adventures of Jason and the Argonauts." In the months since its launch, www.averyant.com has developed a strong grassroots following largely through word of mouse. A darling of bloggers and webmasters from around the world, www.averyant.com posts new rants every ten days.
The Hunter S. Thompson eulogy may be viewed at http://www.averyant.com/rants.html Avery's campaign for Pope may be viewed at http://www.averyant.com/VoteAveryforPope.htm
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For additional information on Avery Ant, or to arrange for an interview, please contact:
Susan McLennan
sus@averyant.com
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For Immediate Release:
God to GOP: "Leave me out of it"
September 2, 2004 – TORONTO: Now well into the GOP convention, God, citing irreconcilable differences, has requested a formal separation between church and state, meaning he will no longer actively participate in the activities of either the Republican or Democratic Parties. The move was announced today by Avery Ant, political pundit and po'd pismire.
The timing couldn't be worse for the Republicans, coming as it does during its Leadership Convention but the GOP maintains that it doesn't faze them at all. "Our legal team advises us that our co-branding efforts give us full rights to the word ‘God’ and our now trademarked terms ‘good’ and ‘evil’ with or without the participation of The Almighty.”
When asked why God would deliver His message through a talking insect, Mr. Ant replied "cuz He couldn't get the burning bush past security." Typically silent on the matter was God himself, Who, although everywhere, was not available for comment.
In a surprise move, Avery Ant used the opportunity to declare his candidacy for the presidency. His rants "Waste Your Vote On Me" and "My Political Platform," amongst others are available at: http://www.averyant.com/rants.html Avery Ant's campaign blog is available at: http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2004/journalusa.html Interviews with Teresa Heinz Kerry and Laura Bush are available at: http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2004/journalusaaug8.html and http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2004/journalusaaug3.html respectively.
Avery Ant's home page is www.averyant.com
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For additional information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Susan McLennan
Email: s.mclennan@sympatico.ca
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For Immediate Release:
FOX NEWS AND AL JAZEERA TO MERGE?
THEY WILL IF AVERY ANT HAS HIS WAY
FAIR AND BALANCED OPINION...AND THEN THE OTHER OPINION
THAT OR BLOOD WILL BE SPILLED
(it could go either way...)
August 20, 2004 - TORONTO: Political pundit and permanently po'd pismire, Avery Ant is proposing a radical solution to the continuing licensing dilemma the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is facing over application decisions surrounding Fox News and Al Jazeera TV. Avery's suggestion? License them both - but as one entity.
With critics of Fox News claiming that that organization is a mouthpiece for the American right including Bush's Whitehouse and critics of Al Jazeera espousing that the Qatar based-network is a platform for fundamentalist and extremist Arabic groups, Mr. Ant believes that only by tethering them together can the world receive both "fair and balanced" reporting along with "the opinion...and then the other opinion." The move also gives new meaning to "cable bundling."
"The new Fox Jazeera (Al Fox didn't cut it) would offer a unique voice in the cut-throat world of journalism," offered an upbeat Mr. Ant. "Yup, I'm talking to the death, one God up against the other God kinda journalism -- And truthfully," he added, "don't we all want to know whose God really is better?"
Avery Ant's rant on the new Fox Jazeera is available at http://www.averyant.com/rants.html
Avery Ant, or to arrange for an interview, please contact:
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Susan McLennan
Email: s.mclennan@sympatico.ca
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For Immediate Release:
   
Is This
The Face That Will Change
Canadian Politics?
But
Critics Ask:
Avery
Ant, Superstar,
Who in the Hell do You Think You Are?
May 26, 2004 - TORONTO: Avery
Ant, bon vivant, celebrity insect and itchy hipster has joined the
race to become Canada's next Prime Minister -- despite repeated
denials he had any interest in the job.
"Yeah,
I changed my mind. So what?" a somewhat unsteady Avery shouted
at his critics. "The people were calling for the ant and I
freakin heeded the call," he clarified.
Avery's foray
into the political world has sent shockwaves through the Martin,
Harper, Layton and Duceppe camps. Each, observers say, was prepared
for a grassroots election campaign with a fair amount of mud slinging,
but none likely counted on facing a candidate who is so intimately
acquainted with dirt. Advisors in Avery Ant's camp acknowledge that
the "Anti Political Party" isn't for everyone but that that
they've created an online test voters can take to determine whether
or not Avery Ant is the candidate for them. The test is accessible
at http://www.averyant.com/voteforavery2004/test.html
Mr. Ant is a
master of subtle political puppetry. It is a little known fact,
for example, that it is Avery Ant who is behind the highly controversial
Toronto ban on pesticides.
Still, detractors
believe he's gone too far by entering the race to lead Canada. Some
note that Mr. Ant seems to be hedging his bets, perhaps considering
a run at federal politics within the United States. It is unclear
if the move is a consolation prize should he lose the race to become
Prime Minister or a bold step towards his ultimate goal of world
domination should he succeed.
To learn more
about Avery Ant, please visit www.averyant.com
For additional
information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Susan McLennan
Email: s.mclennan@sympatico.ca
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For Immediate Release:
That
Ant Sure Can Rant…
Cult Icon Avery Ant
Launches Website of Timely Tirades
And Dream Date Contest
Celebrity Insect Downplays Rumours
of
Political Ambitions
May 21, 2004 - TORONTO Avery Ant, insect, activist and unlikely
star of stage and screen, has launched his highly anticipated website,
Averyant.com, lurching him ever closer to his goal of world
domination - or at least faster parking validation. The URL is www.averyant.com
www.averyant.com is a one stop shop for all things Avery,
including, press clippings, pictures and, of course, his now world-famous
rants, whose subjects run the gambit from Keebler Elves to free
music downloads.
By popular demand, Avery is also running a "Win a Dream
Date with Avery Contest," in which one lucky winner will
spend a fun filled night out on the town with Avery (all expenses
borne by winner; prize may not be exactly as shown and may look
more like a t-shirt).
Avery Ant, whose trademarked slogan is "One P.O.'d Pismire,"
is also denying rumours that he is seriously considering running
in either the upcoming Canadian or U.S. Federal elections. Both
Ottawa and Washington, however, are rife with the whispers of "One
P.O.'d P.M." and "One P.O.'d Prez" - the unofficial
war cries of the grassroots movements on either side of the border
to draft the ranting ant into political service.
"I've had enough servitude for a lifetime," said Avery
Ant. "I can categorically deny that I have absolutely any intention
of running for any office of any kind at any time," he added
emphatically. Observers note, however, that as an ant, Avery could
run for either country - or possibly both.
An Avery-hungry public is threatening to spread the itch, however,
and draft the Ant-i-candidate into a life of service on the Hill.
.........................................................-30-
For Additional Information or to arrange for an interview, please
call:
Susan McLennan
Email: s.mclennan@sympatico.ca
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