1.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
2.
Ryan (film)
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Ryan is a 2004 animated documentary created and directed by Chris Landreth about Canadian animator Ryan Larkin, who had lived on skid row in Montreal as a result of drug and alcohol abuse. Landreths chance meeting with Larkin in 2000 inspired him to develop the film and it was co-produced by Copper Heart Entertainment and the National Film Board of Canada, and its creation and development is the subject of the NFB documentary Alter Egos. The film incorporated material from sources, particularly Larkins works at the NFB. The film is an interpretation of an interview of Larkin by Landreth. Development of the characters was inspired by the plastinated human bodies of the Body Worlds exhibition. The animation was created at the Animation Arts Centre of Seneca College in Toronto, some of the animation was based on cords, mathematical equations modelling the physical properties of curves and used to animate filamentous objects in the film. The visual effects of the film has been described by reviewers and film critics as difficult to describe, Ryan won over 60 awards, including the 2004 Academy Award for Animated Short Film and the 25th Genie Award for Best Animated Short. It was presented and won awards at film festivals, including Cannes Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival. It also won Jury awards at SIGGRAPH and the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, as a result of the films popularity, Larkin became famous once again and received requests for his animation services. He began work with Laurie Gordon on an animated film Spare Change about his panhandling on the streets of Montreal, Larkin died in 2007, and Spare Change was completed by Gordon and released in 2008. Landreth received offers to feature films, but instead chose to continue producing animated short films. Larkin was a Canadian animator who had worked at the National Film Board of Canada in the 1960s and 1970s, Best known for his film Walking composed of animated vignettes of people walking, Larkin was considered one of the best animators of his generation. In 1969, the Montreal Gazette referred to him as the Frank Zappa or George Harrison of animation, in the 1970s, unable to cope with his success and the pressure to develop more works, and facing a creative block, he became addicted to alcohol and cocaine. By 1978, he was broke and no longer working for the NFB and he worked as a commercial animator and painter for the next ten years, but by the late 1980s he was living in the streets of Montreal. He continued to draw and sculpt, Chris Robinson first learned of Larkin in 2000 after his name was mentioned in a discussion by staff member Lesya Fesiak, who had heard about Larkin panhandling in Montreal from a friend. At the time, he resided at the Old Brewery Mission and spent his days wandering around town visiting art galleries, museums and he always had a notepad with him for drawing. They offered him dinner at a bar, where he recounted his life story. Before leaving, Robinson invited Larkin to Ottawa to watch a few entries for that years film festival, Landreth met Larkin at the suggestion of Robinson
3.
Ottawa
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Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It stands on the bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, the two form the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area and the National Capital Region. The 2016 census reported a population of 934,243, making it the fourth-largest city in Canada, the City of Ottawa reported that the city had an estimated population of 960,754 as of December 2015. Founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as Ottawa in 1855, the city name Ottawa was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River nearby, the name of which is derived from the Algonquin Odawa, meaning to trade. The city is the most educated in Canada, and is home to a number of post-secondary, research, and cultural institutions, including the National Arts Centre, Ottawa also has the highest standard of living in the nation and low unemployment. It ranked second out of 150 worldwide in the Numbeo quality of life index 2014–2015, with the draining of the Champlain Sea around ten thousand years ago the Ottawa Valley became habitable. The area was used for wild harvesting, hunting, fishing, trade, travel. The Ottawa river valley has archaeological sites with arrow heads, pottery, the area has three major rivers that meet, making it an important trade and travel area for thousands of years. The Algonquins called the Ottawa River Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi meaning Great River or Grand River, Étienne Brûlé, the first European to travel up the Ottawa River, passed by Ottawa in 1610 on his way to the Great Lakes. Three years later, Samuel de Champlain wrote about the waterfalls of the area and about his encounters with the Algonquins, the early explorers and traders were later followed by many missionaries. The first maps of the area used the word Ottawa to name the river, philemon Wright, a New Englander, created the first settlement in the area on 7 March 1800 on the north side of the river, across from Ottawa in Hull. He, with five other families and twenty-five labourers, set about to create a community called Wrightsville. Wright pioneered the Ottawa Valley timber trade by transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Quebec City, the following year, the town would soon be named after British military engineer Colonel John By who was responsible for the entire Rideau Waterway construction project. Colonel By set up military barracks on the site of todays Parliament Hill and he also laid out the streets of the town and created two distinct neighbourhoods named Upper Town west of the canal and Lower Town east of the canal. Similar to its Upper Canada and Lower Canada namesakes, historically Upper Town was predominantly English speaking and Protestant whereas Lower Town was predominantly French, Irish, bytowns population grew to 1,000 as the Rideau Canal was being completed in 1832. In 1855 Bytown was renamed Ottawa and incorporated as a city, William Pittman Lett was installed as the first city clerk guiding it through 36 years of development. On New Years Eve 1857, Queen Victoria, as a symbolic, in reality, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald had assigned this selection process to the Executive Branch of the Government, as previous attempts to arrive at a consensus had ended in deadlock
4.
Over the Garden Wall
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Over the Garden Wall is an American animated television miniseries created by Patrick McHale for Cartoon Network. The series centers on two half-brothers who travel across a strange forest in order to find their way home, encountering odd, the show is based on McHales animated short film Tome of the Unknown, which was produced as part of Cartoon Network Studios shorts development program. The show features Elijah Wood and Collin Dean as the protagonists Wirt and Greg, over the Garden Wall was broadcast throughout the week of November 3,2014 to November 7,2014. The show marked the first miniseries on the network, which commenced its production in March 2014, McHale first envisioned the show in 2004, and pitched it to the network in 2006. After working on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Adventure Time and that pilot became the catalyst for Over the Garden Wall. Production of the show was handled in Burbank, California. The series environment evokes 19th- and 20th-century Americana, while its digital backgrounds are designed to resemble grisaille paintings, upon its debut, the series received positive reviews from television critics, with praise focusing on its mood and characters and criticism leveled at its storytelling. In 2015, the series won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, outside of the series, a one-shot comic book adaptation penned by McHale has been produced, with four further issues commissioned. The series follows two half-brothers, Wirt and Greg, who become lost in a strange forest called the Unknown, Wirt, the older brother, is a worry-prone teenager and would rather keep to himself than have to make a decision. His three passions are the clarinet, poetry, and architecture but he keeps this private out of fear of being mocked. On the other hand, Greg, the brother, is all about play and being carefree, much to Wirts chagrin. Greg carries a frog, whose name is undetermined and who can communicate only through singing, stalking the main cast is the Beast, an ancient creature who leads lost souls astray until they lose their hope and willpower and turn into Edelwood trees. In the final two episodes, it is revealed that Wirt and Greg are actually two boys from the modern era, Wirt and Gregs strange appearance stems from the fact it was Halloween the night they were transported into the Unknown. On the other side of the wall, they landed on train tracks where Greg was almost hit by a train, Wirt pushed them both off a hill into a lake/river in an attempt to save him, knocking them both unconscious in the process. At the end of the last episode, Wirt and Greg wake up in a hospital, with Greg telling a story but being cut off before we can hear what its about. As the scene ends, Gregs frog begins to glow, due to having eaten a magic bell in The Unknown, the series ends with a slow montage of how Wirt and Greg affected the inhabitants of the Unknown. Production for Over the Garden Wall commenced in March 2014, the ten episodes ordered for the series marked the first miniseries on the Cartoon Network. The show was first envisioned in 2004 with a scarier and more adventure-based storyline, before working as a storyboard artist on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, McHale pitched Garden Wall in 2006
5.
Patrick McHale
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By his habitual coolness and daring, and sustained bravery in action, his name has become a household word for gallantry among his comrades. He died at Shorncliff, Kent on 26 October 1866 and was buried at Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, near Folkestone, Kent and his Victoria Cross is displayed in the Northumberland Fusiliers Museum at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, England. Listed in order of publication year The Register of the Victoria Cross Clarke, a register of awards to Irish-born officers and men. Irelands VCs ISBN 1-899243-00-3 Monuments to Courage Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross Location of grave and VC medal
6.
Persepolis (film)
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Persepolis is a 2007 French-Iranian animated biographical drama film based on Marjane Satrapis autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud, the story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The title is a reference to the city of Persepolis. The film was co-winner of the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was released in France, in her acceptance speech, Satrapi said Although this film is universal, I wish to dedicate the prize to all Iranians. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. At the airport, Marjane is unable to board a plane to Iran and she then takes a seat and smokes a cigarette. She reflects on her childhood, full of politically driven conflict, as a young girl, Marji lived in Tehran and wanted to be a prophet and a disciple of Bruce Lee. Her childhood ambition is the uprising against the Shah of Iran. Her middle-class family participates in all the rallies and protests, Marji and a group of friends attempt to attack a young boy named Ramen, whose father, a member of SAVAK, killed Communists for no particular reason. One day, Marjis Uncle Anoush arrives to have dinner with the family after recently being released from his sentence in prison. Uncle Anoush inspires Marji with his stories of his life on the run from the government, political enemies cease fighting and elections for a new leading power commence. Marjis familys situation does not improve as they are upset when Islamic Fundamentalists win the elections with 99. 99% of the vote. The government forces women to dress modestly, including wearing a head scarf, profoundly disillusioned, Marji tries, with her family, to fit into the reality of the intolerant regime. The Iran-Iraq war breaks out and Marji sees for herself the horrors of death, the Iranian government begins implementing ridiculous laws that create blatant injustices. The family tries to find solace in secret parties where they enjoy simple pleasures the government has outlawed, as she grows up, Marji begins a life of over-confidence. Fearing her arrest for her outspokenness, Marjis parents send her to a French lycée in Vienna, Austria and she lives with Catholic nuns and is upset with their discriminatory and judgmental behaviour. Marji doesnt make any friends, and ultimately feels intolerably isolated in a foreign land surrounded by annoyingly superficial people who take their freedom for granted. As the years go by, Marji is thrown out of her temporary shelter for insulting a nun and is driven out into the streets, Marji continues to go from house to house, until ending up in the house of Frau Dr. Schloss, a retired philosophy teacher
7.
Marjane Satrapi
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Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and childrens book author. Satrapi was born in Rasht, Iran, and grew up in Tehran in a middle-class Iranian family, both her parents were politically active and supported Marxist causes against the monarchy of the last Shah. When the Iranian Revolution took place in 1979, they were dismayed and intimidated by the Muslim fundamentalists who took power, during her youth, Marjane was constantly exposed to the growing brutalities of the various regimes. She witnessed many family friends being persecuted, arrested, and even murdered and she found a hero in her uncle, Anoosh, who had been a political prisoner and lived in exile for a time. Young Marjane adored her uncle and greatly admired him, and he in turn doted on her, tragically, as detailed in Satrapis autobiography, Anoosh was arrested again and executed, his body was buried in an unmarked grave in the prison. Anoosh was only allowed one visitor before his execution, and he requested Marjane, the loss of her uncle left her deeply upset. As a young teen, Marjane began to act out, getting into trouble with the police for breaking modesty codes and her parents grew concerned that the young Marjane, a strong-willed and rambunctious teenager, would run afoul of the strict new public codes for women. They arranged for her to study abroad, and in 1983 she arrived in Vienna, Austria, according to her autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, she stayed in Vienna through her high-school years, staying in friends homes, but spent two months living on the streets. After an almost deadly bout of pneumonia, she returned to Iran and she studied visual communication, eventually obtaining a masters degree from Islamic Azad University in Tehran. During this time, Satrapi went to numerous illegal parties hosted by her friends, where she met a man named Reza and she married him at the age of 21, but divorced him roughly a couple years later. Satrapi then moved to Strasbourg, France, Satrapi is married to Mattias Ripa, a Swedish national. Apart from her native language Persian, she speaks French, English, Swedish, German, Satrapis career began in earnest when she met David Beauchard, a French comics artist who became her mentor and teacher. Persepolis won the Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival and her later publication, Embroideries, was also nominated for the Angoulême Album of the Year award in 2003, an award that was won by her novel Chicken with Plums. She has also contributed to the Op-Ed section of The New York Times, Comics Alliance listed Satrapi as one of twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition. Satrapi prefers the term comic books to graphic novels, people are so afraid to say the word comic, she told the Guardian newspaper in 2011. It makes you think of a man with pimples, a ponytail. Change it to novel and that disappears. Persepolis was adapted into a film of the same name
8.
Daimon Hellstrom
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Daimon Hellstrom, also known as the Son of Satan and Hellstorm, Damien Hellstorm, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Encouraged by the success of the titles Ghost Rider and The Tomb of Dracula, editor Roy Thomas had reservations about this idea and suggested a series focusing on the son of Satan instead. According to Thomas, Lee approved of the idea, and Gary Friedrich, however, Trimpe denies this, claiming Friedrich alone designed Daimon Hellstrom and only brought him in as artist after the character was fully realized. Thomas has said he realized that a 1960s fanzine character created by his friend Biljo White had looked very similar. As Thomas recalled in 2001, Stan called me into the one day, and said he wanted to do a book called Mark of Satan, but this time. I went to a parochial Lutheran school, but Im not religious, but I thought this was going to get us in trouble, I didnt even like the idea. So I went off and thought about it for a bit, and I came back and said, I think were asking for trouble with Mark of Satan. You could still have Satan as a character, but hes not the hero and its a little different from Dracula, where the heroes were the human beings fighting the vampire. Stan loved it, and it was only a little later I realized that name and basic concept had been a comic by a friend of mine, Biljo White. The branded chest, a trident, and so forth, I think it just came out looking almost identical. I explained it to Biljo, and he understood, but it was weird, because if you look at his old fanzine. The character Daimon Hellstrom first appeared in Ghost Rider vol,1, #1, then was spun off into a feature, Son of Satan, in Marvel Spotlight #12–24. Nonetheless, sales were strong, prompting Marvel to launch the character into his own series, Son of Satan, written by John Warner. The characters success faded soon after the launch, and Son of Satan was cancelled with issue #7. One of the writers on Defenders, J. M. DeMatteis, featured a number of subplots focused on Daimon Hellstrom. Characters like Son of Satan are a metaphor for what we all contain, good and evil, high. Hes literally the son of the Devil, trying not to be what his father is, for a writer like me, how can you not feast on that. In 1993, he once more received his own series with Hellstorm, as suggested by the title, his surname was spelled Hellstorm during this series
9.
Nick Park
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Nicholas Wulstan Nick Park, CBE is an English director, writer, and animator best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of six times, and won four with Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave, and Wallace & Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. He has also received five BAFTA Awards, including the BAFTA for Best Short Animation for A Matter of Loaf and Death and his 2000 film Chicken Run is the highest-grossing stop motion animated film. For his work in animation, in 2012, Park was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life, Park was born in Brookfield Park in Preston, Lancashire in the north-west of England to Mary Cecilia Ashton, a seamstress, and Roger Wulstan Park, an architectural photographer. The middle child of five siblings, Park grew up on Greenlands Estate, the later moved to Walmer Bridge. His sister Janet lives in Longton and he attended Cuthbert Mayne High School. He grew up with a keen interest in drawing cartoons, and as a 13-year-old made films with the help of his mother and her movie camera. He also took after his father, an inventor. He studied Communication Arts at Sheffield City Polytechnic and then went to the National Film and Television School, in 1985, he joined the staff of Aardman Animations in Bristol, where he worked as an animator on commercial products. He also had a part in animating the Pee-wees Playhouse which featured Paul Reubens, along with all this, he had finally completed A Grand Day Out, and with that in post-production, he made Creature Comforts as his contribution to a series of shorts called Lip Synch. Creature Comforts matched animated zoo animals with a soundtrack of people talking about their homes, the two films were nominated for a host of awards. A Grand Day Out beat Creature Comforts for the BAFTA award, in 1990 Park worked alongside advertising agency GGK to develop a series of highly acclaimed television advertisements for the Heat Electric campaign. The Creature Comforts advertisements are now regarded as among the best advertisements ever shown on British television, as voted by viewers of the UKs main commercial channels ITV, two more Wallace and Gromit shorts, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, followed, both winning Oscars. He then made his first feature-length film, Chicken Run, co-directed with Aardman founder Peter Lord and he also supervised a new series of Creature Comforts films for British television in 2003. On 10 October 2005, a fire gutted Aardman Animations archive warehouse, the fire resulted in the loss of most of Parks creations, including the models and sets used in the movie Chicken Run. Some of the original Wallace & Gromit models and sets, as well as the prints of the finished films, were elsewhere. Parks most recent work includes a US version of Creature Comforts, in the series, Americans were interviewed about a range of subjects
10.
Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema
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The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema was an annual international film festival for animated feature films, held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It ran for 13 years, from 2001 to 2013, the festival was unique in its focus on feature animation. The programme was also surprisingly comprehensive - in its first year the festival was dedicated mainly to anime, perhaps reflecting its focus, WFAC has presented more animated feature films in public exhibition than any other festival in the world. World Cinema, Canadian/North American/International premieres of Green Days, 마당을 나온 암탉, den kæmpestore bjørn, FIMFÁRUM – DO TŘETICE VŠEHO DOBRÉHO. Also Chico y Rita, とある飛空士への追憶, 鋼の錬金術師 嘆きの丘（ミロス）の聖なる星, El Sol, christie, NA PŮDĚ ANEB KDO MÁ DNESKA NAROZENINY
