Village Gamer

Vancouver – At this month’s ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver seminar, animation director Eric Darnell shared his journey from Pre-Med student to animated feature film director. Who would’ve thought that problems with Organic Chemistry and watching a televised football game would lead to becoming the director of animated hits Antz, Madagascar and Madagascar 2, with a third and final Madagascar installment currently in production.

Eric Darnell

Throughout the seminar, which was a fire-side styled chat with Glenn Entis, Eric shared some of his early, experimental work with the audience. While I did enjoy the innovative styling of the collage-animation done for REM’s “Get Up” music video, my personal favourite was animation short Gas Planet, seen below. Eric has a knack for capturing just the right expressions in his characters, to the point where dialogue is simply not required in getting the point of the animation across. Gas Planet was the recipient of the Ottawa Animation Festival’s Special Jury Prize.

I think that the one, most valuable piece of advice which Eric had for aspiring animation directors was using whatever personal time they had to create their own experimental pieces. He stated that by pursuing such interests, “the experience will make your future, paid work better, and can take you to places which you never imagined. Real life experiences make you a better director – seemingly unrelated events help you bring more to the table.” Eric also went on to state that “as the director, you are the caretaker of the story, and it is important that you have very strong writers on your team.”
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Ottawa – The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has announced the launch of a new web site designed to open dialogue in regards to proposed Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). The site features a collection of essays by leading academics, lawyers, researchers, activists and industry professionals, and is designed to serve as a resource on Deep Packet Inspection. According to information on the site, it grew out of a desire at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to understand more about a technology that has application in network traffic management, behavioural advertising, and law enforcement.

Jennifer Stoddart

“The prospective uses of DPI technology raise serious concerns about individual privacy,” said Jennifer Stoddart, Privacy Commissioner of Canada. “DPI technology has the potential to give ISPs and other entities wide-ranging access to vast amounts of personal information sent over the Internet. Canadians spend a significant amount of their lives on online as consumers, professionals, and citizens. They are entitled to privacy protection pursuant to Canadian telecommunications policy, as set out in the Telecommunications Act, and under privacy laws of Canada. We respectfully submit that before DPI technology is employed, careful consideration should be given to what impact it may have on individual privacy.”
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Banff – “Beginning with the comedy troupe ‘Kids in the Hall’ Mark McKinney’s original characters and unconventional sketches have become a part of pop culture,” comments Peter Vamos, Executive Director of BANFF. “Whether as

Mark McKinney

creator, producer or actor in many memorable comedic productions, Mark has made an impressive contribution to the international film and television comedy landscape.”

Mark McKinney was first known for his work on the long-running sketch comedy troupe “The Kids in the Hall”, which ran from 1989 to 1995. Following that series’ success, Mark went on to star in “Saturday Night Live” from 1995 to 1997, and in 1998 wrote for Aaron Sorkin’s “Sports Night.” He later co-created the acclaimed mini-series “Slings and Arrows”, which he wrote and starred in for all three seasons. Mark then went on to both write and act on NBC’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” As well, he directed and appeared on the CBC Radio post-apocalyptic comedy “Steve, The First” and its sequel, “Steve, The Second.”

Mark has also appeared in several films including the Kids in the Hall movie “Brain Candy” and the SNL spin-offs “Superstar,” “The Ladies Man” and “A Night at The Roxbury.” Mark had a leading role in the Spice Girls’ movie, “Spice World,” and also starred opposite Isabella Rossellini in Guy Maddin’s acclaimed tragic comedy “The Saddest Music in the World.”
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