Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

PBS Foundation has received a $250,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to support PBS KIDS GO!’s robust digital playground of videos, games, mobile experiences, and other interactive content for children.  The grant will fund the continuation of innovative digital technology experiments and research in educational gaming for school-aged kids. 

 “PBS KIDS GO! was created for school-aged kids, who we know have limited choices for media content that is age-appropriate, fun and educational,” said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Children’s Media, PBS.  “Through this initiative, we have developed engaging interactive content for kids that puts them in the driver’s seat, allowing them to explore and learn in a safe interactive environment. This grant will allow us to continue this important work.”

The grant will fund website expansions, game development, research, and PBS station and producer support for PBS KIDS GO!.  Upcoming projects include new short-form episodes of existing web-originals such as FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB, new site features to enable users to customize their experience on the site, and more content on new media platforms, such as mobile devices and interactive white boards.  Much of this content will be evaluated through educational impact testing and will help PBS produce content that serves a broader age-range of children as they build their reading, math and science skills.

PBS KIDS GO! is constantly experimenting with new technologies to help drive educational impact for kids,” said Jason Seiken, Senior Vice President, Interactive, Product Development and Innovation, PBS.  “We’ve had great success so far, and we’ve seen particularly significant growth over the past year. Unique visitors on PBSKIDSGO.org are currently up 30% year-on-year, and average time spent on the site is up 23%. And PBSKIDS.org has been the #1 kids entertainment site for free videos streamed for the past nine months. As PBS KIDS GO! continues to gain momentum, we will continue to look for ways to experiment and innovate across platforms to help increase learning.”

PBSKIDSGO.org includes the PBS KIDS GO! video player, which features over 3,000 video clips from PBS KIDS GO! series such as WILD KRATTS, ARTHUR and WORDGIRL, and averages 4.8 million streams per month (Google Analytics). The site also features four web-only series as well as in-video games and companion gaming sites for television programs.  Additional site features include the Webonauts Internet Academy, an internet safety site for kids, and the “Secret Box,” a customizable space for kids to store their own creations.

Support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations will build upon the significant investment in PBS KIDS GO! from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).  PBSKIDSGO.org was initially funded by and continues to receive support through contributions from CPB.

Reports from the opening of the new Pixar / Disney film, Cars 2 reveals it as a box office hit – with ticket sales of $68 million and an appeal for families with children under 12.  According to market research firm CinemaScore, those who came disagreed with critics and liked the movie, giving it an average grade of A-minus.

Storyline: Star race car Lightning McQueen and his pal Mater head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. View the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1822465049/

Starring the voice talent of Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson (as Lightning McQueen), Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro, Brent Musburger and more.  

When you go to see it, write us here with Your Review! We’d love to hear what you think!

One more thing…. Disney just released their new Cars 2 Storybook Deluxe App for iPad – to coincide with the movie’s release. In the app, Cars star Lightning McQueen zooms back into action with his best friend Mater by his side as they head to the World Grand Prix races.  Readers of the storybook deluxe app will get to:

 * Choose between two reading modes that allow you to follow along as the story is read aloud, or to explore each page at your own pace.       
 * Play exciting games inspired from the movie—test your memory in Tokyo Lights and try your hand at Mater’s Tire Toss.       
 * Record your voice reading the story and hear it played back as narration.
 * Tap characters and objects for animated surprises.       
 * Also includes 5 coloring pages and 5 interactive jigsaw puzzles for extra 
 
The Cars 2 Storybook Deluxe App is available at the App Store on the iPad or at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cars-2-storybook-deluxe/id445409124?mt=8#.

Before you buy, you might want to check out their demo video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uSeMCzZAzk

The Los Angeles Film Festival announced their jury and audience award winners for the 2011 Festival at the Awards Brunch, sponsored and hosted by zLA Times, LA Live, CHAYA Downtown and Dove® Hair Care.  Allison Janney and John C. Reilly were on hand to present the awards.  The Los Angeles Film Festival ran from Thursday, June 16 to Sunday, June 26 in downtown Los Angeles.

“David, Doug and the team continue to raise the bar with the quality of our programming slate.  We’re enormously proud to host such an exceptional and diverse group of films and filmmakers at this year’s Festival, and to have introduced audiences to their wonderful work” said Los Angeles Film Festival Director Rebecca Yeldham.

The two top juried awards of the Los Angeles Film Festival are the Narrative Award and Documentary Award, each carrying an unrestricted $15,000 cash prize, funded by Film Independent, for the winning film’s director.  The awards were established by the Festival encourage independent filmmakers to pursue their artistic ambitions.

“It was such a rich year in competition films, so our juries had really tough choices to make.  The winning films are the cream of a particularly delicious crop, and we’re delighted that they reflect the Festival’s dedication to movies from all over the world,” said Festival Artistic Director David Ansen.

The Narrative Award recognizes the finest narrative film in competition at the Festival and went to Stéphane Lafleur for the North American Premiere of Familiar Ground.  The Documentary Award recognizes the finest documentary film in competition at the Festival and went to Beverly Kopf and Bobbie Birleffi for the World Premiere of Wish Me Away.

For more information, go to http://www.lafilmfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2011-LAFF-Winners-Release-FINAL.doc

Happy Anniversary to our friends at NCircle Entertainment, the DVD distributor of children’s programs such as The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!, Sid the Science Kid, Pocoyo, and WordWorld.  Whether it’s learning about ABCs and 123s, photosynthesis and metamorphosis, or the importance of being kind to others, NCircle’s family of mostly preschool shows offers hundreds of hours of enriching viewing for growing young minds. 

“Our core mission is providing quality programming that helps kids learn while entertaining them,” said Debbie Ries, senior vice president and general manager. We believe today’s moms know NCircle is a name they can trust – and we’re gratified that our numbers are bearing this out!”

Later this year, NCircle will be releasing the 2011 Academy Award-nominated short film, “The Gruffalo,” narrated by Helena Bonham Carter as well as the Australian series, “The Fairies.” Established in 2006, NCircle currently distributes more than 300 DVD titles primarily geared to the preschool audience. Congrats! Keep up the good work.

Check out our new review of KUNG FU PANDA 2 by 14-year-old Gabriella Chu featured on KIDS FIRST! AOL Kids page.

http://kids.aol.com/2011/05/27/kids-first-review-of-kung-fu-panda-2/

I love this! PBS Kids is offering a collection of summer programming to help make education fun. Starting on May 23, PBS KIDS has ten weeks of themed programming that emphasize literacy. Each week features reading-related episodes from a different PBS KIDS series. Here’s their line up:

    * SID THE SCIENCE KID – “Weather Week” – starting May 23
    * ARTHUR – “Arthur Author Week” – starting May 30
    * CURIOUS GEORGE – “Country Monkey Week” – starting June 6
    * DINOSAUR TRAIN – “World Tour Week” – starting June 13
    * SUPER WHY – “Family Story Week” – starting June 20
    * MARTHA SPEAKS – “Martha Summer Fun Week” – starting June 27
    * THE ELECTRIC COMPANY – “What’s the Story? Week” – starting July 4
    * WORDGIRL – “WordGirl’s Ludicrously Literate Library Week” –  starting July 11
    * WILD KRATTS – “Wet Kratts Week” – starting July 18
    * THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! – “Cool Cat Week” – starting July 25

So, don’t just piddle away your summer eating popsicles! Use that good ole TV as a “stealth” learning device. Why not. If your kids thought of it first, they would.

Along with the themed episodes, PBS KIDs will have more toolds available online, on-air and via partnerships with iVillage and JetBlue Airways. For details, go to http://pressroom.pbs.org/Programs/PBS-KIDS-Summer-Reading-2011.aspx