I seriously haven’t laughed this much in a movie in a while, especially a kids movie. The SecretLife of Pets, a comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. It was seriously FUNNY! Take the kids and have a good laugh!
Presented Universal Pictures is the fifth fully-animated feature-film collaboration with Illumination Entertainment (they also did the Minions movies).
Comedy superstars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart make their animated feature-film debuts in The SecretLife of Pets, which co-stars Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan and Albert Brooks. Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy produce the film directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2), co-directed by Yarrow Cheney and written by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch.
During the press junket for The Secret Life of Pets, I joined in group interviews with the cast of the movie including Eric Stonestreet, Lake Bell and Kevin Hart.
Eric Stonestreet spoke about finding the connection. He also talked about his love for animals, and growing up with pigs, cows, and dogs in Kansas. Stonestreet said there’s a Duke in everyone, including himself.
“I think when you meet him at the beginning of the movie you think one thing about him, that he’s kind of a bully and kind of a tough guy, mildly a tough guy because he is protecting something. We don’t know what that is,” he said.
Kevin Hart joked about how he got into character “I went and spent a lot of time with some bunnies. I only ate lettuce for like seven months before filming this movie.”
Kevin then commented that he had a lot in common with the larger than life character, Snowball. “What I relate to with Snowball is the self-deprecation. I’m very big on self-deprecation and addressing things before other people do. And there are moments in this movie where Snowball does that. Those are things that I took, from me and my stand-up, and put them within the building of the character.
Other than that, I love the fact that he is a leader. He has a leadership quality. I’m very much a leader. I’m very much a guy who can put a plan into place and get people to believe the plan and sacrifice to get there and reward you when we do get there. That’s the making of a CEO. Any CEO has that talent, has the ability to sell you on why we sacrifice today to win big tomorrow. Snowball does that,” he said.
Lake Bell said of her character “Chloe is a realist, which I am. But, I am an optimist, and she is kind of a flagrant pessimist. I tend to be sarcastic and sort of silly, and she has that as well.”
Three of the world’s greatest storytellers – Roald Dahl, Walt Disney and Steven Spielberg – unite for the first time to bring Dahl’s beloved classic “The BFG” to life on screen.
BFGcombines fairytale with technology to tell a story in a world created by Steven Spielberg as told by Roaul Dahl. We meet Sophie and the Giant and believe their relationship grows from fear of each other to trusted friends and comrades in arms. These new friends and their realization that they each are different form all others they know is a wonderful allegory of schoolyard bullies and following the dreams of using her royal majesty’s armed forces to retaliate and win the day. The story, the underlying message, and the filmmakers’ abilities combine to make for a wonderful couple of hours of family entertainment.
In the middle of the night, when every child and every grown-up is in a deep, deep sleep, all the dark things come out from hiding and have the world to themselves. That’s what Sophie, a precocious 10-year-old, has been told, and that’s what she believes as she lies sleepless in her own bed at her London orphanage. While all the other girls in the dormitory dream their dreams, Sophie risks breaking one of Mrs. Clonkers’s many rules to climb out of her bed, slip on her glasses, lean out the window and see what the world looks like in the moonlit silence of the witching hour. Outside, in the ghostly, silvery light, her familiar street looks more like a fairy tale village than the one she knows, and out of the darkness comes something long and tall…very, very, tall. That something is a giant who takes Sophie and whisks her away to his home in a land far, far away. Fortunately for Sophie, he is the big friendly giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Standing 24-feet-tall with enormous ears and a keen sense of smell, the BFG is endearingly dim-witted and keeps to himself for the most part. His brothers are twice as big and at least twice as scary, and have been known to eat humans, but the BFG is a vegetarian and makes do with a disgusting vegetable called Snozzcumber.
Upon her arrival in Giant Country, Sophie is initially frightened of the mysterious giant, but soon comes to realize that the BFG is actually quite gentle and charming, and since she has never met a giant before, is full of questions. The BFG brings Sophie to Dream Country where he collects dreams and sends them to children, teaching her all about the magic and mystery of dreams. Having both been on their own in the world up until now, an unexpected friendship blossoms. But Sophie’s presence in Giant Country has attracted the unwanted attention of the other giants, who have become increasingly more bothersome. Sophie and the BFG soon depart for London to see the Queen and warn her of the precarious giant situation, but they must first convince her that giants do indeed exist. Together, they come up with a plan to get rid of the giants once and for all.
We have these great BFG coloring sheet, BFG maze, and a BFG word search that’ll help keep kids active after seeing the movie.
The largest display of fourth of July fireworks takes place here in New York City and is hosted by Macy’s Department Store. Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks celebrates its 40th anniversary this year! This year the fireworks once again take place in the East River that giving an amazing view by the South Street Seaport.
If you want to celebrate the Fourth of July with the SouthStreetSeaportMuseum you’ll get access to an exclusive seating area on Pier 16. On Monday, July 4, 2016 you’ll have ticketed access to the pier starting at 5pm. The fireworks on the East River start at 9:25pm. Bring a blanket or chair and enjoy a night at Pier 16 with family and friends, while supporting the SouthStreetSeaportMuseum!
Exclusive view of the Macy’s Fireworks Show
Local food trucks
Featuring beverages from The Flagship Brewery!
All ages welcome!
Purchase your early access or group tickets by clicking here. A limited number of tickets are available and are going fast!
Now if you’re a bit more into the party mode Industry Kitchen, is one of South Street Seaport’s waterfront great new restaurants & bars, located under the FDR. It has a great viewing area for the fireworks and offers a couple of different packages to enjoy an premium open bar and buffet.
Now if you’re wondering what to do all weekend or day leading up to Macy’s Fireworks… well the great folks over at Howard Hughes Corporation are having a block party called the Festival of Independence at the seaport. Presented in partnership with Noisey, the music and culture channel of VICE, there will be two stages one for the adults and one with more family friendly entertainment.
Sunday, July 3rd on the Noisey Stage on Fulton Street from 1pm to 9pm:
Wild Nothing
Porches
Yumi Zouma
Public Access TV
Monday, July 4th on the Noisey Stage on Fulton Street from 1pm to 9pm:
Lee Fields and The Expressions
D.R.A.M
Phony PPL
MeLo-X
Jonathan Toubin DJ set
Monday, July 4th on the Peck Slip Stage from 1pm to 8pm:
Live music performances with family entertainment during the afternoon leading into cool indie rock in the evening –
Suzanne and I have spent more than our fair share not sleeping – with 3 kids thats just how it goes. After all the reviews, received and purchased gear for my kids to make my life easier or their life happier and to please my wife, we finally found our secret to a getting our baby to SLEEP! Because with our 3rd child, Harlow, we have the coolest dad invented product out there – the Newton Living Wovenaire Crib Mattress.
This crib mattress retails for $300 and is Breathable, Washable, Sustainable. I love picking Harlow up from her crib now because she is well rested and cool – not sweaty to the touch because this mattress is made of 90% air and food grade polymer, no PVCs, no off gassing. I also appreciated the turtle days (rollovers) this time around as this mattress is 100% breathable and has been proven to reduce risks. This is the most innovative no brainer in our nursery to date!
Check out this design and innovation for yourself and see why even Dr. Sears of The Doctors added this one to his list of ‘Do’s’ for Dad’s!
Here to make everyone get the gift of sleep – visit newtonbaby.com and use code DADA for $25 off! Offer expires 7/30/16
Even more – I am giving away 1 Newton Living Woveaire Crib Mattress to make some else’s day! $300 Value!
How to win it… Contest ends 11:59pm EST. July 2nd, 2016.
You must comment telling us which color mattress is your favorite? please include some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email)
You get 1 extra entry for tweeting about this contest (you can do this daily). Must contain the following information: #SleepingBaby @newtonbabyrest @dadarocks http://dad.am/264K0Bb — and you must also leave comment on this blog with the link to your tweet.
Example: I want to win the @newtonbabyrest mattress to help my #SleepingBaby from @dadarocks http://dad.am/264K0Bb
You get 1 extra entry for following @DadaRocks on twitter –twitter.com/dadarocks you must comment back here that you’re now following
You get 1 extra entry for becoming a Fan on facebook –facebook.com/dadarocks you must comment back here that you’re a fan (and leave a little note on the wall saying hi)
You get 1 extra entry for following @Newtonbabyrest on twitter –twitter.com/newtonbabyrest you must comment back here that you’re now following
You get 1 extra entry for becoming a Fan on facebook –facebook.com/newtonbabyrest you must comment back here that you’re a fan (and leave a little note on the wall that dada rocks sent you 🙂 )
You will have 12 hours to reply before we pick another winner!
Disclosure: Contest limited to USA. Must be 18+ years old to enter to win.
At The Honest Company’s summer 2016 product launch we spoke with co-founder and Chief Product Officer Christoper Gavigan. Christopher is a dad of 4, lives out in California and has dedicated the last 10 years of his life to making this earth a better place.
Christopher is the former CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World (a national nonprofit empowering parents to protect their children from toxic risks), and an author of a best-selling book.
Eric Stonestreet spoke about finding the connection. He also talked about his love for animals, and growing up with pigs, cows, and dogs in Kansas. Stonestreet said there’s a Duke in everyone, including himself.
Kevin then commented that he had a lot in common with the larger than life character, Snowball. “What I relate to with Snowball is the self-deprecation. I’m very big on self-deprecation and addressing things before other people do. And there are moments in this movie where Snowball does that. Those are things that I took, from me and my stand-up, and put them within the building of the character.
