Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

The report of winning toys for Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products for 2012 is now available to parents, teachers and others interested in play and toys on Dr. Toy’s Guide at www.drtoy.com. The information is designed to assist children to play and learn at home, traveling, and while on vacation.

Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products Awards were developed by noted child development authority, Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Dr. Toy), as a valued service to consumers who desire to purchase safe, affordable, educationally-oriented, stimulating toys and play products for children for vacation time for use at home or on the road.

“As a childhood specialist for more than 40 years,” says Dr. Toy, “I have seen the continuous, essential need for more year-round resources for consumers to identify, and choose the most appropriate and timely products for all children.”

Dr. Toy reports that in the years the innovative on-line magazine, Dr. Toy’s Guide, has been available, “Many thousands of visitors daily from around the world have accessed information.” This was the first web site to evaluate toys and children’s products, and now the site is newly updated. The report is being released, according to Dr. Toy, to “encourage parents and teachers to focus on the value of play during the summer (and year round) as essential to balance and the overall on-going learning process.”

She adds, “The Best Vacation Products 2012 are an excellent selection from large, small, new and established, companies across the U.S.A., Canada, and around the world and will provide children with exciting new learning tools that will help them not only do better in school, but also will provide more constructive activities while at home, traveling or at vacation destinations.”

The award winning products include innovative toys, books, CDs, crafts, DVDs, games, puzzles, and many other play products for children of all ages and interests.

Dr. Toy believes “parents need more help to get a head start locating new, quality, diversified products that children will enjoy as they increase learning skills and expand creativity.” The products range from low to high tech for “hours of constructive, educational, and stimulating fun.”

“Children learn best through play,” says Dr. Auerbach, “and these Best Vacation Products encourage children to maximize their potential and make the most of Smart Play. By making a renewed focus on Summertime as a special time for choosing new products for children, parents help to improve their children’s development. This is a perfect time for parents to ‘take stock, ’ do an inventory of what their children are playing with, what is not being used, and what they need next in their development.”

Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products are very carefully chosen, using extensive criteria she has developed over many years, from among hundreds she has reviewed at toy fairs, in catalogs, and through many other sources. The criteria she uses includes: safety, age-appropriateness, design, durability, lasting play value, cultural and ethnic diversity, good transition from home to school, educational value, learning skills, creativity, improvement in the understanding of the community and the world, good value for price, and, naturally, fun.

These are products suitable for babies to older children, include products from hand-crafted to hi-tech, and range in price on the average from $10 to $50. The winning vacation products are affordable, well designed, and reflect the wide range of children’s interests. Complete information about these and other products are included in the full report.

Dr. Toy’s report includes company customer service numbers, web site addresses, age range, price, and a full description of each product. The award-winning, on-line magazine, Dr. Toy’s Guide, features full color photos of each product, links to companies to learn more, interviews with and articles by Dr. Toy, plus hundreds of other Best Products for all reasons and seasons. At this time over 5000 products are included in the Dr. Toy’s Guide with direct links to companies and toy stores on line, plus toy history, parent resources, and much more. See also the new i phone App- “Dr Toy’s Best Gift Guide” for handy guidance as a practical take- along shopping tool.

On Friday, June 15, PBS KIDS premieres the SUPER WHY! Around the World Adventure, an on-air event featuring two new episodes of SUPER WHY!.  This new special is the cornerstone of PBS KIDS’ summer learning initiative, an effort to help kids continue building key literacy skills throughout summer vacation. Research shows that students experience significant learning loss when they do not participate in educational activities during the summer months. To help bridge this summer learning gap, PBS KIDS is providing families with the SUPER WHY! Around the World Adventure, along with a host of other fun and educational content and activities across platforms.

“When children go back to school in the fall, teachers typically spend between four and six weeks re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer,” said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vice president, Children’s Media, PBS. “We want to equip families with tools to prevent this ‘summer slide,’ and to make summer a time for learning and exploring. At PBS KIDS, we know that kids learn the most from content that is both educational and engaging, which is why we’re offering a range of activities across platforms to help kids and parents build key skills while having fun this summer.” This new special is the cornerstone of PBS KIDS’ summer learning initiative, an effort to help kids continue building key literacy skills throughout summer vacation.

SUPER WHY! Around the World Adventure – June 15
Two new episodes of the award-winning series created and produced by Out of the Blue Enterprises – “Super Why and the Around the World Adventure” and “Super Why and Naila and the Magic Map” – take the Super Readers around the world in back-to-back adventures in the SUPER WHY! Around the World Adventure. Both episodes will also be available online at PBSKIDS.org/video and on the free PBS KIDS Video App for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

“Super Why and the Around the World Adventure” – With the help of their teacher, Wyatt and his friends have contacted a girl from another school over the computer and are wondering where she lives. The Super Readers take a trip around the world with a wacky explorer named Wobblebottom, who is on the hunt for his friend Sophie. Will they be able to help Wobblebottom find his friend?

“Super Why and Naila and the Magic Map” – Pig and his friends are playing when they find what looks like an Egyptian treasure map, but they can’t make out the symbols! To search for some answers, the Super Readers soar into the book “Naila and the Magic Map” and explore the world of ancient Egypt. Will they be able to help Naila unravel the mysterious code that will unlock where the treasure lies?

PBS KIDS’ summer learning initiative will also include themed programming on-air, online and on mobile, as well as partnership activities to support literacy.

Summer Learning Theme Weeks – Starting June 4

This summer, PBS KIDS will focus on literacy with 10 weeks of themed programming (check local listings). Each week will feature reading-related episodes from a different PBS KIDS series. Select episodes and clips will also be featured on PBSKIDS.org/video and on the free PBS KIDS Video App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, and games and activities will be available for kids at PBSKIDS.org/read and for parents at PBSPARENTS.org/read. Starting June 4, free episode downloads, video playlists and other downloadable content will also be available on iTunes. Episodic images and episode descriptions are available on PBS PressRoom. The line-up includes:

WILD KRATTS, “Zach Attack Week” – Starting June 4
WORDGIRL, “Tobey’s Robot Summer” – Starting June 11
ARTHUR, “Baby Kate Adventure Week” – Starting June 18
CURIOUS GEORGE, “Monkey Business Week” – Starting June 25
SUPER WHY!, “Royal Reading Week” – Starting July 2
THE ELECTRIC COMPANY, “Prankster Planet” – Starting July 9
DINOSAUR TRAIN, “Gone Fishing Week” – Starting July 16
MARTHA SPEAKS, “Dog Daze Week” – Starting July 23
CAT IN THE HAT, “Creepy Crawley Week” – Starting July 30
SID THE SCIENCE KID, “Get up and Move Week” – Starting August 6

Other Stuff

For the third consecutive year, PBS KIDS is partnering with iVillage to offer the millions of women in its online community the iVillage PBS KIDS Summer Reading Community Challenge at ivillage.com/pbs. The challenge runs from June 18 to July 27 and features free literacy-building resources, for parents and children, designed by the experts at PBS Parents and PBS KIDS. Daily activity assignments, delivered by email, will be provided by Challenge Coaches Angela Santomero, creator, executive producer and head writer of SUPER WHY!, and Jessica Wollman, vice president, Editorial Products & Digital Programming at Scholastic. The coaches will also answer parent questions and offer advice throughout the online event. iVillage and PBS KIDS will also team up with Scholastic to host reading parties with parent bloggers and within the iVillage community, reaching more than 1,500 kids across the country.

Soar with Reading, a joint project of PBS KIDS and JetBlue Airways, will once again kick off in late June and will encourage kids’ imaginations to take flight through reading. The program features online resources for parents and kids, literacy-based activity booklets and more, all available at www.soarwithreading.com. Additionally, Soar with Reading will be hosting free public events at local libraries in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and San Juan, Puerto Rico throughout the summer; please check the website in June for more information on these events.

Soar with Reading aims to make age-appropriate books accessible to all children. Thus, JetBlue, with help from Barefoot Books, has committed to donating books to children in need. Be sure to visit www.soarwithreading.com to learn how you can get involved in helping another child Soar with Reading.

In addition, the SUPER WHY! Reading Camps, in conjunction with 24 PBS stations from coast-to-coast, will help thousands of young kids discover the power of reading this summer through a proven research-based curriculum based on the series’ groundbreaking interactive learning adventures. National partners for the program include Boys and Girls Clubs of America, YWCA, National Education Association, National Summer Learning Association, Head Start Collaboration and Purpose Built Communities.

Through a variety of summer learning initiatives, PBS KIDS continues to offer educational and engaging content across platforms to more and more families.

Marvel Studios announced today that they arranged with NASA to transfer their record-breaking blockbuster film “Marvel’s The Avengers” to NASA’s Mission Control in Houston, which will uplink the film to the International Space Station (ISS), currently orbiting 220 miles above Earth. The film will then be screened for the space station crew’s exclusive enjoyment.

This screening continues Marvel’s collaboration with NASA, which began during principal photography of “Marvel’s The Avengers” when the film shot at the Space Power Facility at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.

Louis D’Esposito, Marvel Studios’ Co-President and Executive Producer of  “Marvel’s The Avengers,” says, “The studio is privileged to share ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ with those up in space exploring the universe.  A special thanks goes to NASA for utilizing their incredible technology to make this special screening miles above us in space happen.  It is a screening that would make Tony Stark envious.”

Films, books, and music offer important aspects of psychological support for astronauts on long-duration missions, such as those on the International Space Station (ISS). “These are the types of things that help to keep the crew connected to home, which is a huge morale boost while being away for long periods of time,“ said Dan Cook, Psychological Support Coordinator with Wyle, a contractor at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Aside from watching movies and television shows, ISS crewmembers have a number of options for their leisure and personal time, such as reading books or magazines, listening to music, and playing musical instruments.

The current space station mission is Expedition 31 and has a six-member crew consisting of 2 NASA Astronauts, 1 European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut, and 3 Russian (RU) Cosmonauts as follows: Don Pettit (NASA), Joe Acaba (NASA), Andre Kuipers (ESA), Oleg Kononenko (RU), Gennady Padalka (RU), Sergei Revin (RU)

For more details about Expedition 31, check out the main NASA page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition31/index.html

That’s how many plastic markers Crayola makes every year — enough to circle the earth three times! And since Crayola has no recycling program for used markers, many of those markers end up in landfills, or even worse, the ocean.

Elementary school kids take action. Land Wilson is a volunteer who works with the “Kids That Care” club at Sun Valley Elementary School in California. The kids were horrified to learn that their beloved Crayola markers could end up as trash in the ocean, killing wildlife like fish, sea turtles and marine birds.

You can help. Land and the kids started a petition on Change.org asking Crayola to start a program for consumers to recycle their markers. The kids believe that if thousands of people sign their petition, Crayola will let consumers make sure their markers end up in recycling bins, not oceans or landfills.

Click here to sign the kids’ petition asking Crayola to implement a consumer recycling program.

Here’s a lot more information about Land and the kids’ campaign, in their own words:

Every year, Crayola makes about half a billion markers — enough markers to wrap around the earth more than three times! — and sells them all around the world. Millions of kids use and love Crayola products — including the students at Sun Valley School, where I volunteer. That’s why we’re asking Crayola to make sure these markers don’t end up in our landfills, incinerators and oceans.

“I love your markers, but I’d like to tell you it’s polluting. So can I please send some of your markers back? I love your product, but hate pollution,” Zachary, age 9.

Around the world, people are starting to realize the massive problem of discarded plastics. It’s not only a waste of resources — it is detrimental to our well being. Plastics, which escape into the ocean, are entering our food chain as they are weathered and broken down into smaller and smaller pieces. By establishing a take-back program for their plastic markers, Crayola can stop millions of markers from becoming pollution and waste.

“I want to let you know that I am not a useless little kid. I can make a difference! By telling you to recycle your pens,” Dante, age 11.

“Will we ever be able to fix the hole in the ozone layer? I don’t like pollution because it hurts the Earth,” Georgia, age 7.

“If we all came from the Earth… Then why are we hurting it so much? Earth is all we have left,” Olivia, age 8.

We want Crayola to “make their mark” by starting a “take-back” recycling program for their markers. If Crayola can do it, we know other companies will follow. Crayola can be a leader for the environment.

Sincerely,

Mr. Land and his “Kids That Care” from Sun Valley School

Do you show films? Are you looking for films to screen for your youth audiences? Then, we may be the perfect source for you. KIDS FIRST! is looking for partners to screen our films, made for and by kids, that have been accepted for our traveling children’s film festival.

As our KIDS FIRST! Film Festival celebrates its 13th year, we are looking for new partners who would appreciate the wonderful diversity of programming that we have to offer. We offer films from studios, indie filmmakers and student filmmakers that have been though our selection process and we consider “best” to offer to the 100+ venues nation and world wide who affiliate themselves with us! Over the past 13 years, our affiliates include established film festivals and film societies, community centers, libraries, children’s hospitals and boat shows! Yup, a pretty diverse group. We help program for events that bring in tens of thousands of people and events that show films to intimate groups of 20.

Whether you have partnered with us in the past or are brand new to this type of event, we are a great resource for you because we have one of the best collections of films for a youth audience ages 2 to 15. And, it’s easy!. We have made some significant changes over the last year to make the selection and screening process so much simpler.

Most of our short films can be screened, in their entirety, on our vimeo site: http://shorts.kidsfirstmedia.com/ For longer films, you may watch the trailers at  http://vimeo.com/groups/kidsfirsttrailers. For the longer films, we ship screeners to you.

For the short films, once you select which ones you wish to screen, you may download them to your computer or flash drive for exhibition, provided that your annual membership ($100) is up to date and you notify us of times and dates for your  screenings.

Our annual membership is $100/ year, and for this you may screen as many films as you wish, year round. Go to http://bit.ly/IIOByv to download our application.

All the festivals we have worked with recently love this new process, as does our staff since it eliminates a lot of shipping and reduced the time involved.

Last, if you have not watched our youth film critics reviews yet, let me encourage you to do so. We are now into the 2nd year of this program with 16 youth film critics ages 7 to 15 who won a spot through a national competition held every fall. The kids are quite wonderful. All are film buffs in their own right and all, youngest to oldest, are quite articulate and thoughtful in reviewing the films they are assigned. Please take a look at our homepage where they are features. www.kidsfirst.org

That’s it for now. Lauren and I look forward to working with you. Please let us know if there’s anything we can help you with. Call our office at 505-989-8076. We’re in the mountain time zone and are here M-F, 9-5.
best,
Granny Ranny

Celebrating its fifth year, Focus Features’ Africa First Program will accept entries beginning this Monday, May 14th and continuing through Monday, August 20th.

The uniquely conceived initiative, with funds earmarked exclusively for emerging filmmakers of African nationality and residence, is for the fifth consecutive year offering eligible and participating filmmakers the chance to be awarded $10,000 in financing for pre-production, production, and/or post-production on their narrative short film made in continental Africa and tapping into the resources of the film industry there. The program also brings the filmmakers together with each other and with a renowned group of advisors, major figures in the African film world, for support and mentorship. Past short films to come out of the Program have been showcased at the Sundance, Toronto, London, and Berlin Film Festivals; on The Africa Channel; and with the Museum of the Moving Image and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, among other venues worldwide. A compilation of films completed through the Program is available on DVD and across VOD and EST platforms. Complete details on Africa First – including application information – can be accessed year-round through www.focusfeatures.com/africafirst.

Africa First is supervised by Program Director and producer Kisha Cameron Dingle (…Sometimes in April), whose company, Completion Films, has a first-look and consulting deal with Focus, and who coordinates the Program’s submissions and evaluations with Focus director of development & production Christopher Kopp. In addition to on-site work in Africa, the winning filmmakers of Africa First will visit New York City in the fall of 2012 for a weekend of one-on-one workshop discussions with each other; members of the advisory board of experts in African cinema; such Focus executives as Mr. Schamus and president of production Jeb Brody, covering topics like international distribution and the economics of studio financing; and Mrs. Dingle and Mr. Kopp.

Focus CEO James Schamus made the announcement today, adding, “In celebrating the fifth anniversary of Africa First this year, we are also celebrating the dynamic and talented group of filmmakers we’ve had the privilege of collaborating with during the Program’s tenure. The kudos and acclaim their films have generated around the world is gratifying, and we look forward to working with them again.”

The submissions period begins on Monday, May 14th, 2012 and runs through Monday, August 20th, 2012. The five filmmakers selected will be notified by October 2012 and will retain the copyrights and the distribution rights to their completed shorts, with the exception of North American rights; Focus retains those, as well as the right of first negotiation to productions derived from the shorts, such as a feature-length expansion.

Completion is developing feature, documentary, and television projects. Its president, Mrs. Dingle, previously worked as director of development at Walden Media, and as an executive at New Line Cinema, where she oversaw the development and production of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled.

The Africa First advisory board members are Ms. Mahen Bonetti, founder and executive director of the African Film Festival; journalist and documentary filmmaker Ms. Jihan El-Tahiri; Ms. June Givanni, who for four years programmed the Toronto International Film Festival’s Planet Africa series; Ms. Sharifa Johka, film programmer and independent producer; Mr. Pedro Pimenta, producer and manager of training programs throughout South Africa; and Mr. Keith Shiri, founder/director of the Africa at the Pictures film festival in the U.K.

Focus Features and Focus Features International (www.focusfeatures.com) comprise a singular global company. This worldwide studio makes original and daring films that challenge the mainstream to embrace and enjoy voices and visions from around the world that deliver global commercial success. The company operates as Focus Features in North America, and as Focus Features International (FFI) in the rest of the world.

Current and upcoming Focus Features releases include Moonrise Kingdom, world-premiering as the opening-night film of the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival, the new feature from Wes Anderson, starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Jason Schwartzman; Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley; Sam Fell and Chris Butler’s ParaNorman, the new 3D stop-motion comedy thriller from animation company LAIKA; Jamie Travis’ contemporary comedy For a Good Time, Call…, starring Ari Graynor and Lauren Anne Miller; Closed Circuit, the suspense thriller directed by John Crowley and starring Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall; Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land, the contemporary drama written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski; the historical tale Hyde Park on Hudson, directed by Roger Michell and starring Academy Award nominees Bill Murray and Laura Linney; and Joe Wright’s epic love story Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, and Aaron Johnson.

Focus Features and Focus Features International are part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. Comcast Corporation owns a controlling 51% interest in NBCUniversal, with GE holding a 49% stake.

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