Every damn corner of the world I visit bears an icon of America at its worst, notably McDonalds and Disney. See you've got your damn jobs at the cost of someone else, somewhere else. When I was in Vietnam and other countries I saw less and less inclination toward encouraging original material that speaks for the cultural voices and an increasing reliance on, for example, Disney films. Ya know what that means...that means governments et al don't want to encourage original productions (see Nelvana/PBS deal). Instead they fork out for distribution rights to Hollywood junk. It's cheaper to buy American product than to sweat trying to make something a little different.

This cultural colonisation is of course especially bad in Canada. Everywhere I turn, I see a Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Denny's, Starbucks and Disney store. Even the fabled Montreal Canadiens, once a symbol of cultural and linguistic diversity, are now owned by an American! Big deal you say? Well, considering they've put many Canadian businesses and families out of work, it is a BIG DEAL.

Now I'm sure many of you are fine people who maybe even voted for Nader (gee, that turned out well), but it's time you opened up your perpetually narrow geographic eyes to see that the rest of the world has long suffered at the hands of corporate America. Welcome to the club.

Is there a bright side? Shit ya...you now got a brain dead duffus as your leader and he's damn eager to start a killin' folks. If there's a good thing about killing folks, it means job openings.

And while we're talking about jobs, give us back our hockey teams!

Love,
Your kindly neighbour of the North

Hottie Animator o' da Month
Sonia Bridge. The most determined animator I ever met...and she's hot...and she's Canadian.

The Animation Pimp is sponsored by Canadian squirrels. Thanks to Richard Meltzer for loathing the fuggin' States before I was born.

Chris Robinson is a writer, festival director, programmer, junky and has been called the John Woo of diplomacy. His hobbies include horseback riding, pudpulling, canoeing and goat thumping.