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| Friday, January 13, 2006 |
Ranting ant wants your vote
By Lindsay Jones
The Daily News
HALIFAX - If you think the Conservatives are too churchy, the Liberals too untrustworthy, the NDP too flaky and the Green Party too green, there's a new candidate in the running.
Avery Ant is a sarcastic stop-motion creature designed by a Halifax animator (from an idea by creator Mike Erskine-Kelly of Toronto), whose online rants receive thousands of hits per day. Aimed at apathetic young voters, the serial candidate has unsuccessfully run for Pope, U.S. President and King of England.
"He's got that hard edge in the way he looks at things," says Brian McPhail of the Halifax Film Company. "Ants are pretty low on the totem pole of life, so he has an ant's eye view of the world."
Avery is not on Elections Candidate ballots. You can vote for him online and take his political test to see if he works for you.
McPhail - also an animator for Halifax-produced Lunar Jim, a CBC show for preschoolers - gave the crusty-voiced insect a bent antennae, four arms and Give 'em Hell T-shirt.
"His personality suggests a background in a lot of hard drinking and getting into a lot of trouble," McPhail says. "He so low down, he's seeing everything from the bottom of a garbage can, but he's very full of himself."
Ant's rants on government, education, the environment and military spending are relevant in a tongue-in-cheek way, but irreverent enough to appeal to the18-to-34 target audience.
For instance, Ant says cities need more money to address transit, infrastructure and social-service issues.
Then, he turns mouthy: "They need that stuff, but I won't give it to them. Know why? Cause I like the idea of being the supreme power and making those goofy mayors dance for quarters.
The ant's rants are distributed for wireless internationally by Big Bang Pictures, a catalogue of video clips and ringtones. He became available to Rogers and Telus subscribers last week
The ant's rants are distributed for wireless internationally by Big Bang Pictures, a catalogue of video clips and ringtones. He became available to Rogers and Telus subscribers last week
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