Thanx S|b, it's nice to be thought of.
You can download a program to convert images to ascii <A HREF="http://www.imagespro.com/programs/1141/">here</A>, which is possibly how the author made the ascii-matrix. (they should have used this in the movie)
Here's my old avatar using this program:
<FONT SIZE=+2><B><A HREF="http://members.optusnet.com.au/~neonsx/neonsx.htm">NEONSX : ASCII AVATAR</A></B></FONT>