[Rear View]

Animated Video Brings Radio Segment to Life
 

Royal Pest Solutions created a fun and catchy, low-budget video to promote its “Ask the Entomologist” radio program, which aired last summer.

The radio program would solicit questions on Facebook during the week on a pest topic and then Royal Pest Solutions’ Marketing Director Rick DeDonato would ask them to the company’s then-entomologist on air.

“The show was also broadcast on the radio station’s website so I wrote this opening for the show,” said DeDonato. “My son recorded the song and it was such a hit we had it animated.”

Rick DeDonato’s son, Matt DeDonato (age 22), is a professional barber who also is the vocalist/lead guitarist in the band Coffin Fly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsgrrXFB9Ms).

For the animation DeDonato hired Sandy Gerger, who used to work for DeDonato as an art director when he was a creative director in Philadelphia.

“I gave her the song, the ‘Ask the Entomologist’ logo, and a rough storyboard. She did all the drawings and the animation,” DeDonato said. “The animation technique is called video scribing animation.” — Brad Harbison

******

Bugs, Insects Top Menu Items at Ehrlich’s ‘Pestaurant on Pennsy’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — To celebrate more than 85 years in business, J.C. Ehrlich hosted “Pestaurant on Pennsy” on June 4, at the Occidental Grill in downtown Washington, D.C.

At this unique, fun event, Ehrlich served an array of exotic cuisine, including a range of edible insects such as grasshopper burgers, crispy BBQ mealworms and scorpion lollipops. As part of the Rentokil family of pest control companies, Ehrlich took part in the Rentokil Pestaurant global event that happened the same day in 12 countries. Washington, D.C. is the only U.S. city to host this event.

The consumption of insects has been known to contribute positively to the environment and to health and livelihoods. More than 1,900 species have reportedly been used as food. Insects are high in protein, B vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc, and are low in fat. One hundred grams of grasshopper can carry 20.6g of protein, 35.3mg of calcium and 5mg of iron. Eating insects can help boost nutrition and reduce our carbon footprint.
 

******

Woman Breeds 100,000 Roaches in Her House

The South China Morning Post reported that Yuan Meixia in China shares her home with 100,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches, which she considers her children.

She breeds them and raises them so she can sell them to a pharmaceutical company, which uses them for medicine. She lives in separate home, but visits the breeding home every day. She was inspired to start breeding them after she saw a program on television which talked about their potential healing properties.

Source: South China Morning Post