Turn off the TV for a while. Give children pencils and crayons and stay out of the way.

Nice interview with Clifford's creator, Norman Bridwell here. A guy who knew just what to do with his doggie. Congrats Mr. Bridwell.

Why Schooling Has to Change Told Brilliantly

A brilliant piece on education and schooling (and how we're doing it...wrong?) by the RSA has beautifully meshed the information world and internet art in a talk by Sir Ken Robinson. Take a few minutes and see not only how right I think they are, but how it seems that this is really what the web is for.

The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.

Is there something we can do about this? See the video on their site here or just watch below:

Kids, Tweens, and Teens Viewing: TV wins

An insightful report at Cynopsis, the home of the great Industry newsletter and website, shares their view of the demographic patterns of kids viewing and they find:

In the first quarter of 2010 kids 2-11 watched 24 hours of TV each week, compared to four minutes of internet video. Teens watched about 23 hours of TV per week, compared to 10 minutes of online video

But that doesn't mean advertisers put all their resources into television.

About 34 million teens aged 12 to 19 have $176 bullion in personal purchasing power...While they often spend that money in actual stores, they are doing their due diligence about the products and services online.

But I doubt it's always (or ever?) to find the cheapest price. To grab them, the networks try different approaches:

Networks too have to think about kids holistically when they're marketing shows to young viewers. Cartoon Network, as an example, invests a lot of marketing resources in gaming because kids 6-11 are heavy online gamers. "Whether addictinggames.com or platforms like that, our approach is to bring gaming to those environments by syndicating games and then promoting tune-in," said Vicky Free, VP of 360 marketing for Turner Broadcasting's Animation for young adults and kids. "We give them something they like first before hitting them with the tune-in message."

Is this so surprising? Does your anecdotal research show the same thing? The small amount of time online certainly surprised us around Salty Pretzels.

Children's television must rely on merchandising

A masterful article at Guardian UK Why Children's Television Must Rely on Merchandising. It's a battle and constant discussion we're always having with suppliers, licensees, studios, and creative folks that's all part of the big picture, "how do you make money in children's television." The shock on people's faces when we were doing Wishbone and told them, "No, PBS doesn't pay to produce the episodes," was constant. It barely paid for the kibble. Take a read. It's a fascinating study. Thanks, Guardian.

Zooburst

Found this very cool, fun site thanks to the folks at read write web. It's called Zooburst, and it lets you create your own 3D pop up book. You can upload your own images or use theirs, and they have a nice design to the ones they have available. Not only does it play as a flash movie, but it also plays as a 3d image through your camcorder...kinda looks like you're holding the book in your hand.

It's in its very early stages, so there is a bit of a learning curve, and a few things - like character dialoge--not working quite yet--but it's real close and very fun. It is accepting new users on a slow roll out basis, but I got it right away. So good luck. It's definitely worth playing around with and definitely has some fun potential for adults...um, I mean kids...

Bill Moyers Journal

See if you can find the time to take a look online at Bill Moyer's last Bill Moyers Journal.. He is retiring from broadcasting after four decades, though apparently it will be kept alive in an online life. One of the saddest parts of not working on a PBS show anymore was missing out on hearing Bill Moyer's speak at the PBS conventions. Not only were they the most insightful, enriching, and empowering moments of the week, but he always made himself available to talk to anyone afterwards. He is a truly remarkable, articulate, empathetic man who knows how to cut through the media rubble more clearly than anyone.

The first story is exactly the heart of what Bill Moyer's cared about most: people. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement shows the other side of a movement in the country that sees the need for change and does something about it without the politics and anti government spewing a few other groups the media is more fond of sharing these days.

The second is a wonderful interview with Jim Hightower. I can't believe he's right here in Texas. The heart of which may be described as a quote from his mother, "Two wrongs don't make a right but three left turns do."

And finally, there is an interview with Barry Lopez, the award winning author who talks about nature, spirit, and the human condition.

It will be time well spent.

Boys, Books, and Teen Brains

We've talked with partners for a long time about "books for boys." Why don't they read? What do they want to read? Does it matter that they're not reading? What can we write that they WILL read? There are a couple of articles with some intriguing insight, including today's Nicholas Kristoff op-ed piece in the Times, The Boys Have Fallen Behind. The Center on Education Policy confirms that boys have fallen behind in reading in every single state. Some argue “The world has gotten more verbal...Boys haven’t.”

The answer may surprise some. ..."Encourage lowbrow, adventure or even gross-out books...Indeed, the more books make parents flinch, the more they seem to suck boys in."

Kristoff shares a very cool idea, the website, guysread.com, that offers useful lists of books to coax boys into reading, and they are helpfully sorted into categories like “ghosts,” “boxers, wrestlers, ultimate fighters,” and “at least one explosion.”

And while we're looking at the boys/reading dynamic, take a look at NPR's look at the differences in the teen age brain and the adult brain. It may answer more questions than just why boys don't read. It's a fascinating article that may explain why your kids are doing what they're doing and that they might not have any idea WHY they're doing what they're doing. Their frontal lobes are not fully connected, and that leads to a lack of insight, excitability, and their being self centered. Sound like some one you know? Or knew?

Maybe they should read a good gross out book?

The Kids are All Right

A beautiful pause in the health care debate from Thomas Friedman in the NYT today, reminding us that there is hope that we're doing some things right thanks to the kids of recent immigrants. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21friedman.html

He wrote:

Gotta say, it was the most inspiring evening I’ve had in D.C. in 20 years. It left me thinking, “If we can just get a few things right — immigration, education standards, bandwidth, fiscal policy — maybe we’ll be O.K.” It left me feeling that maybe Alice Wei Zhao of North High School in Sheboygan, Wis., chosen by her fellow finalists to be their spokeswoman, was right when she told the audience: “Don’t sweat about the problems our generation will have to deal with. Believe me, our future is in good hands.”

As long as we don’t shut our doors.

You can read about the Intel Contest here: http://www.societyforscience.org/STS/

New Movie Friday

Forced to do this because of the many bad reviews popping up for Marty's SHUTTER ISLAND. Hey, it's really good. Great film noir. It's Sam Fuller for the 21st Century, not Hitchcock. It's not all blood and gore, more gothic and intrigue. Lots of great plot and twists and if Leo ain't the best, it's still worth jumping in. It's an in-theater, not at home experience. The screening crowd last night at Studio Movie Grill was totally into it. You could hear a pin drop in parts.

Go see it while you pass on Oscar nominated THE LAST STATION. Guess the Last SNOOZE was taken. Hard to see so much scenery chewed when it's not on stage. Yay, James McAvoy though,but boo Helen Mirren (she must regret having to watch it twice). Not worth an Academy vote.

So thar' ya go. Or don't go.

Didn't you think it was even more???

So the LA Times article discusses how you better be a tv show or movie if you want be a toy. Not so shocking, but then they add the apparently somewhat shocking news that "toys based on characters found in movies, TV shows or books accounted for $5.4 billion, or 25% of all U.S. toy sales, last year." I'm really surprised it's only 25%! Didn't you think it was closer to 30, 40, or 50 per cent? Where's the next creativity coming from? http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-toystory16-2010feb16,0,2526066.story

Celebrating Valentine's Day

With a trailer you haven't seen yet!

New Info On Childhood Obesity and TV

Some really intersting new news regarding childhood obesity and TV watching. The good news from us old PBS types is that they said, "non-commercial viewing, including watching DVDs or educational television programming, had no significant association with obesity."

Also, "according to the authors, the findings strongly suggest that steering children away from commercial television may be effective in reducing childhood obesity, given that food is the most commonly advertised product on children's television and the fact that almost 90 percent of children begin watching television regularly before the age of 2. "

I guess the question is, does anybody, other than academics care?

Don't forget to check out our page on Facebook

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Hope you took a look at our revised salty pretzels!

We're very excited to see the new www.saltypretzels.com. Now you can see more stuff! (Seymour Stuff???) And if we play our cards right, we should be getting more frequent blog updates and discussions cooking, 'cause that seems to be what's happening around here.

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Ads, trailers, videos, books, moms, kids, tweens, preschool and a crazy economy. We thought it was time for a change.

ecards

Everyone has to take a look at
www.someecards.com

We know it's nice to get a card in the mail, and kinda lazy to do it online, but the cards here are so irreverent, and clever and fun that it spersedes any negative thoughts you may have about receiving an ecard. A little original humor goes a long way....even when it gets political!:

The unrest in Iran makes me proud to live in a country where corrupt politicians are smart enough to keep rigged elections close

Thanks to our friends

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