By Ryann Ferguson

What would Shrek be without his Scottish accent? Can you even imagine it? But not only was the character of Shrek NOT Scottish in William Stieg’s original books, (in fact, his name comes from Yiddish) but Mike Meyers very nearly never got the chance to play Shrek.

Several other actors were once considered for the film, including Bill Murray as Shrek with Steve Martin as Donkey. Ultimately, the producers hired comedian Chris Farley, who recorded upwards of 90% of the movie’s dialogue before passing away without completing the role.

 

 

By Tim Kridel

Sometime over the summer -- no one is sure exactly when -- Apple quietly launched a portal where developers and other entities can alert the company about possible app copyright infringements. “Once you have identified the app and described the alleged infringement on the following pages, we will respond via email with a reference number and will put you in direct contact with the provider of the disputed app,” says the portal’s main page.

Apple’s new process doesn’t change one thing: the need for developers to periodically check what else is available in their target markets. That’s also an opportunity to see if rival apps have added features that give them a competitive advantage.

 

By Nancy Phelps

Arriving in Changchun, China for The International Animation, Comics, and Games Forum was a very abrupt switch from my previous weeks in Kosovo and Serbia.   Any thoughts of long, leisurely meals with friends and watching good animation went out of my head when I was handed my schedule.

When I last visited the Jilin Industrial Park 2 years ago it was still under construction.  The multilevel media school was completed but I had no idea that that the final project would be so massive.   On this visit all of the tall building were completed and seemed to be full of activity and the grounds were fully landscaped.

 

Jerusalem, this is a land that has inspired legends, myths and mysticism which have not just impelled the course and evolution of our humanity, its religious beliefs, cultures and politics but also, throughout our history, been the source of endless dreams, desires, conflicts and conquests. The issuing reflections are probably the most complex of all of those I have written until now, difficult and troublesome for me to reflect upon and even more so verbalize. Nonetheless, I feel a deep need to face a challenge of distilling and then sharing my personal thoughts and observations on this perplexing topics. At the same time I am well aware of the displeasure and anger, even wrath of those readers who, for their own personal reasons, will differ, disagree, be infuriated by or dismissive of my ideas, opinions, perspectives and analyses I am about to express. But intellectual discourse is not just healthy and crucial but moreover vital to our evolution as human and social beings designed to coexist with each other.

Buddy i used to play hockey with sent me this film. It's pretty good. Not sure it's my thing, but for a young squirt, it's well done. Plus, it's about addicts. I love addicts.

ASIFA-P.E.I is holding a Potato Animation Workshop

One day I awoke. Took a piss. Made tea...

We thank those AWN readers who contributed their thoughts on the passing of legendary Russian animator Fyodor Khitruk.

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"This is a great loss to Russian animation. Khitruk was the teacher of many famous Russian directors - Norshtein, Nazarov, Petrov, Maksimov, Aldashin and many others.  He was my teacher also. Khitruk was not only a good director and a teacher but also a unique person, a great conversationalist.  He always had positive energy."

Igor Kovalyov

Director

"Fyodor Khitruk helped modernize Russian animation. His sense of rhythm, his humor, his ability to tell stories concisely made him an example. But more importantly, his graphic virtuosity made history. Othello 67, the very short film (50 seconds) he made for the international competition organized for the Montreal World Exhibition is a masterpiece of irony and pacing."

Marcel Jean

Artistic Director, Annecy International Animation Film Festival

These are three sentiments we have all felt at one time or another when it comes to how we may feel about our careers. Recently an executive stated these words upon leaving her high profile job that was not by choice. She was listening to her gut when she knew the job held a dream, a challenge and a headache.  You have undoubtedly been in a similar situation at some point in your own career, but what do you do to talk yourself down from the ledge when all you want to do is jump?  Are you resigned to working in a less than perfect work environment?  Have you given up on your ideals and principles in order to get a paycheck or placate the boss?  Do you know who are you anymore and does it matter so long as you still have a job?

By Tim Kridel

If the term “Cabir” rings a bell, it means you’ve been in mobile app development since at least 2004. That’s when Cabir, considered the first known mobile virus, showed up as a proof-of-concept effort.

Since then, mobile devices have become more sophisticated in terms of processing power and connectivity -- which in turn creates more opportunities for malware writers. Just as important, the plethora of real-time operating systems (RTOS) has given way to a handful of smartphone OSs, which make it easier to write once, hack many.

We recently spoke with Trey Wafer, McAfee senior product manager, about how mobile operators, enterprises and security companies are responding to the mobile malware threat.