Recently, Disney Interactive and Marvel Entertainment announced that fans of Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition)will be able to walk on the wild side as three of Marvel’s biggest bad guys join the game. Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis the Green Goblin and Guardians of the Galaxy rabble-rousers Ronan and Yondu join all of the previously announced Marvel and Disney characters in the popular video game franchise.
Green Goblin: Armed with Pumpkin Bombs, the brilliantly nefarious Goblin uses his Electro Shock Gauntlet to dispatch opponents handily in both Marvel’s Spider-Man Play Set and the Toy Box (2.0 Edition). Superhuman strength, spectacular jumps, and the ability to charge his bombs into more powerful bolas all make him a villainous force to be reckoned with for both symbiotes and Super Heroes alike.
Ronan: Wielding the Universal Weapon, the ruthless Ronan the Accuser is an unstoppable force in both Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Play Set and the Toy Box (2.0 Edition). Cloaking, energy blasts, and superhuman strength are all part of the powerful arsenal at Ronan’s disposal as he vies to become the mightiest villain in the galaxy.
Yondu: From deepest space to both Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Play Set and the Toy Box (2.0 Edition)comes Yondu, leader of the outlaw crew known as the Ravagers. Whether he’s trying to outwit the Guardians of the Galaxy or face off against a squadron of Sakaarans, the crafty Yondu uses his whistle-powered flying arrow, devastating combat skills, and wicked wit to come out on top.
Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes Edition is currently available on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, WiiU, 3DS, Playstation Vita, Microsoft Windows, and iOS.
Visiting New York is made simple by NewYork.com they break everything out into simple categories. Then they run up the daily 5 things to do which are like the highlights of the day. The best part of NewYork.com is that they have special connections to places like 9/11 MEMORIAL MUSEUM which they guaranteed admission. I recently used NewYork.com to purchase tickets to the 911 museum. I have lived downtown for many years and have watched the progression of the Freedom tower. From first hearing about a blue print on the news to seeing the steeple actually go up has been quite impressive.
I decided to go to the museum during the winter holidays and knowing that this may be a busy time wanted to purchase my tickets in advance. The website allowed me to select the date and time I needed and I chose to have tickets mailed my way.
When I arrived (suggested 1/2 hour before your time) I was completely blown away at the amount of people in lines and waiting outside. Luckily there were plenty of attendants on hand and I was directed to my time slot. I was once again, so thrilled I had bought my tickets from NewYork.com in advance.
After waiting a short time outside, we were admitted inside where everyone must go through security and a airport scanner for obvious reasons. This entire process was very quick and soon I was on my way to view the museum.
Headphones were available for purchase if you did not have your own (which I did) and it is recommended you download the 911 app on your phone before you go.
I really have no words to describe the museum space that would do any justice. It is something one must see for themselves. The memorabilia, wall of the fallen, and even actual firetruck inside were so moving to see… many people were brought to tears. Often times we hear a number of the victims such as 2000 perished.. but to see their faces on a wall and hear about their life from loved ones was such a special tribute.
I highly suggest going to the 911 museum for all New Yorkers and tourists who are visiting.
If you have 30 minutes: Upon arrival, skip the introductory video shown in the theater on the ground floor. You will want to go straight to the third floor, to the September 11, 2001 exhibit which is marked by a distinct glass entryway and revolving doors. Here you will view news clips from around the world, timelines of events, and …
If you have one hour: Upon arrival, descend one floor below to the museum entrance – with an hour you’ll have enough time to move through most of the museum space. Do not miss the North and South Tower galleries, which offer a comprehensive look of the day, how it played out in each tower, and the aftermath. The Memorial Exhibition is another important space to experience, where…
If you have two hours: With this amount of time, you can catch just about everything – the North and South Tower galleries, the Memorial exhibit and the Rebirth at Ground Zero film. After walking through the September 11, 2001 exhibit, which you most likely will move through quickly, you’ll land in Foundation Hall, which is a good place to sit and compose your thoughts before moving onto…
(click the above link to see the full tips). I would highly recommend NewYork.com for all your tourism needs when planning a trip to the big apple
The Super Bowl is more than simply a sporting event, it’s the American version of the World Cup (the other football) and New Year’s Eve – a veritable eating, drinking, and possibly cigar smoking free-for-all.
In terms of a total calorie consumption day, the Super Bowl is second to only Thanksgiving.
We manage to consume 1,200 calories of the daily 2,000 in snack food alone. As such, it has been fodder for inquisitive minds. Last year 111 million Americans watched the Super Bowl out of a U.S. population of 310 million.
Presumably a good chunk of the population is too young or too old to care
about such things. The Super Bowl was the most watched television program in history, and now has an international audience. An additional 37 foreign countries received the live TV feed. No wonder advertising costs $4 million per 30-second spot, and the advertising is sold out.
There is an aspect of Super Bowl celebration that feels a little forced, sort of like celebratory drinking on New Year’s Eve. Forced or not, a lot of beer is consumed on Game Day – 50 million cases to be specific. Assuming all the beer was consumed, that’s almost half a case each for the 111 million viewer s. And not all of the 111 million drink beer…
The beer consumption might be a good explanation of why 6 percent of Americans don’t come to work the next day (Monday).
And what do people eat with all that beer? Chicken wings and lots of guacamole. Last year Americans bought 125 million chicken wings and used 71 million pounds of avocados.
For pizza aficionados, it is the busiest day of the year for all the big pizza chains; about double the business as a rule. So a lot of pizza delivery guys are busy and not drinking beer, which means someone must have to drink up the slack.
Potato chips remain a Super Bowl staple as well. There are a staggering 11 million pounds of chips eaten on game day. If that sounds like the moral equivalent of a nutritional wasteland, I share your concern.
But all is not lost. The avocado is a vegetable with a high fat content, but it appears to be the good kind of fat that actually lowers your cholesterol. Dark beer is also full of tannins, which are organic pigments that are cardio-protective. Pizza crust is a complex carbohydrate with some soluble fiber, assuming you ordered the whole grain crust.
Jumping up and yelling also has to count as a mild form of exercise. It keeps the blood going round and gets you off the couch.
While overall the Super Bowl is obviously not a health-conscious day, one day of misbehaving does not a failed life make. So enjoy your one-day hall pass in pursuit of decadence.
Donald Bucklin, MD (Dr. B) is a Regional Medical Director for U.S. HealthWorks and has been practicing clinical occupational medicine for more than 25 years. Dr. B. works in our Scottsdale, Arizona clinic.
My six and half year old son loved the movie… sure at some point he leaned over to me and said “HEY you sing that cheesy song in the car!”. I don’t get who watches a kids movie and reviews it as if it needs to entertain a 40 year old. I certainly don’t… this movie was 100% for the kids!
Blending a catalog of over 400 songs that were recorded – this is a rock opera for kids. My son was grooving in his seat. Whats not to enjoy – there are princesses and sword fights and singing… YES its a musical.
As the credits rolled my son had really enjoyed the movie – so for kids its a must see… this was 15 years in the making this movie designed for 6-12 year olds I think that some of the concepts wont really be understood by the under 5 crowd but they’ll still enjoy it.
There are really great concepts in the plot like never judging a book by its cover, looks are only skin deep, and sometimes you need to be you instead of what everyone else expects you to be.
I really want to highlight the fact that my son loved this movie even though its totally about fairies and princesses… there is enough there that boys will enjoy the movie too.
Visually stunning this movie delivers exactly what you would expect from George Lucas.
The voice cast includes: Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio, Meredith Anne Bull, Alfred Molina, Elijah Kelley, Bob Einstein, Peter Stormare. Be sure to check out my Strange Magic Press Junket interviews here.
STAY IN YOUR SEATS AS THERE IS AN AFTER CREDIT SCENE! (well more during the middle of the credits but still theres a scene none the less)
The ninth season of Curious George, the PBS KIDS hit series, continues with a new episode full of love and curiosity on Monday, February 9, 2015. In “Happy Valentine’s Day, George,” Curious George wants to make his friends the best Valentine’s Day card ever, but even with four paws, it takes a long time to create homemade cards for everyone. Using sponge shapes, red paint, and a waffle iron, George creates the first ever monkey Valentine’s printing press!
“George is a little monkey with a big heart,” says executive producer Dorothea Gillim. “Between George’s monkey antics and a catchy song, this episode is our Valentine to all our loyal viewers.”
This season continues to focus on teaching preschoolers about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts, as well as use of the five senses (smell, taste, hearing, touch, and sight). The curious monkey’s adventures go in “Oh Deer.”When a hungry deer keeps nibbling on the flowers in George and Allie’s garden, George uses all of his five senses to keep the deer out. A scarecrow, loud noises, sticky tape, and stinky rotten eggs don’t work, leaving George with one last sense: taste! Will George’s recipe keep the deer away or make them hungry for more? Curious George airs weekdays on PBS KIDS (check local listings). For more monkey fun, parents can access a variety of fun and educational resources, including games on the five senses like “Roller Monkey” and “Cows Don’t Quack!” on the Curious George website. Click here for a great variety of more fun games, special activities, printables, and videos!
I had attended a Q & A with the cast and crew of Strange Magic. That included creator George Lucas, director Gary Rydstrom, music director Marius DeVries, and stars Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Elijah Kelley, Meredith Anne Bull, and Sam Palladio.
First, it was pretty awesome to have George Lucas walk into the room… He influenced the better part of my childhood and I’d say like 90% of my friends childhood and even our children.
Lucas in particular, who spent 15+ years bringing his vision of Strange Magic to life, had a lot to say about the inspiration behind the film. “What I wanted try to do,” Lucas revealed, “was tell a story using the lyrics of existing songs.” He added that “originally I wanted it to be all music, like an opera”. This is pretty darn close to a ROCK OPERA for kids as one can be.
“Making this movie was more like a Rubik’s Cube than a jigsaw puzzle.” Once you see the movie and hear which music was picked and see how the story flows with the music telling the tale, you will understand. The music is the backbone of the film, and mashing together a movie that depends so heavily on its songs was certainly no simple task for music director Marius DeVries. According to DeVries, over 400 songs were recorded during the creative process of Strange Magic.
Locus had made a movie for tween boys (Star Wars) but since he had daughters, he wanted this movie to about Princess fairies. The fact that one doesn’t take the conventional route and that love & beauty isn’t skin deep.
Into our second round of interviews included:
Gary Rydstrom (Director)
Meredith Anne Bull (voice of “Dawn”)
Sam Palladio (voice of “Roland”)
Evan Rachel Wood (voice of “Marianne”)
Alan Cumming (voice of “Bog King”)
Elijah Kelly (voice of “Sunny”)
Marius De Vries (Musical Director)
The movie professes acceptance and love not only for others, but for yourself as well– an aspect that the film’s stars weighed in on as one of Strange Magic’s more powerful lessons. “The things that make you different are the things that make you beautiful,” said Evan Rachel Wood (who plays Marianne), while Elijah Kelley (Sunny) added that he felt the movie showcases that “no matter how weird and strange you feel like you are, there’s somebody out there who’s weird and strange like you.”
STRANGE MAGIC opens in theatres everywhere on January 23rd!
DJ Lance and the Gabba gang are back with new lessons and exciting guest stars as Nick Jr. premieres brand-new episodes of the hit preschool music series, Yo Gabba Gabba!, kicking off Saturday, Jan. 3, at 1:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The brand-new episodes feature the Gabba crew’s celebrity friends including The Roots (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), Busy Philipps (Cougar Town), Anne Heche (The Legend of Korra), George Clinton, Tom Lennon (Reno 911), Marissa Jaret Winokur (Melissa & Joey) and more!
The schedule for the January premieres of Yo Gabba Gabba! is as follows (all times are ET/PT):
Saturday, Jan. 3,
1:00 p.m. – “Shopping” – The Gabba friends learn about food, spills, and grocery shopping. Guests: Anne Heche, Mark Mothersbaugh, Inara George
1:30 p.m. – “Dinosaur” – The Gabba friends take a magic raft ride into the land of dinosaurs. Guests: Patton Oswalt, George Clinton, Mark Mothersbaugh, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Saturday, Jan. 10
1:00 p.m. – “Day Camp” – The Gabba friends and siblings learn new games and crafts at Day Camp. Guests: The Roots, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Todd Oldham, Matthew Gray Gubler, Biz Markie, Kemba Russell
1:30 p.m. – “Restaurant” – The Gabba friends take a ride to a restaurant and learn how to order and behave. Guests: Tom Lennon, Busy Philipps, Biz Markie, Steve Caballero, Rocket from the Crypt
Now I wasn’t kidding when I said my son… 3 years ago my son was invited to be one of those amazing dancing children on the show… so on the episode Dinosaur – you’ll see my son Marc busting some moves!
It was an incredible experience and I really must thank the great Yo Gabba Gabba team especially Christian Jacobs.
Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment, co-organizers of New Year’s Eve in Times Square, announced today that revelers across the globe will again be able to experience the excitement of the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration via a six-hour, live commercial-free webcast. The sixth annual webcast will cover the action and festivities in Times Square, beginning with the Ball Raising at 6 p.m. EST, plus live musical performances, hourly countdowns, behind-the-scenes stories, and star-studded interviews as anticipation builds towards the midnight countdown and the famous Ball Drop. Last year’s worldwide webcast was watched by more than 1.5 million unique viewers representing nearly 200 countries.
The Times Square New Year’s Eve webcast, enabled by Ustream, will feature musical performances by popular rock group O.A.R. who will perform several hit songs including “Peace” from their new album and deliver the traditional performance of “Imagine” moments beforemidnight. O.A.R. will be joined on the webcast by alt-rock group American Authors performing two of their hit songs “Believer” and “Best Day of My Life.” Univision will present musical performances by Alejandra Guzmán and Jencarlos Canela; and the USO Show Troupe will perform a Military Salute medley to honor our Armed Forces.
National television and radio personality Allison Hagendorf (Host on The CW, VH1, Fuse TV, SiriusXM) returns to host the live, commercial-free webcast for the third year. She will be joined by Maggie Rulli, Andrea Boehlke and Jeremy Hassell, who return from the 2013 New Year’s Eve webcast. Rulli and Hagendorf will kick-off the six-hour celebration at 6 p.m. EST and welcome the nearly one million revelers attending the celebration in Times Square as well as introduce the star of the show, the Times Square Ball. At the top of each hour, Hagendorf will be joined by a television network host or other celebrity who will talk about his or her New Year’s Eve experience and Confetti Wish for the New Year and then lead the revelers in an hourly countdown. Throughout the night, Hagendorf will keep the revelers informed about the musical performances and other exciting entertainment in Times Square. Rulli will provide exclusive interviews and backstage access while Boehlke and Hassell will get the fun personal stories from the revelers arriving from around the world to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
Whether celebrating at home or out on the town, the worldwide online audience will be able to watch and participate in the global celebration with other viewers around the world. The custom-designed embeddable video provides viewers with a full Times Square New Year’s Eve experience. This LIVE webcast video experience is available for digital media outlets, bloggers, social media editors, webmasters, and Facebook users to embed as a source of fun and entertaining content on their own sites customized for their communities and networks.
Last week my daughter and I had the opportunity to be one of the first to preview the DreamHut, an innovative playhouse.
The DreamHut is an innovative new in-door, interactive play space that grows as the child grows. Using nothing but the finest, environmentally sustainable materials, the DreamHut features a stylish compact design that easily opens up in seconds to reveal a stimulating play area and converts into a sleek armoire when playtime is done.
It is perfect for the living room, family room or bedroom. When opened, the DreamHut features a chalkboard, magnetic walls, a folding table, windows, curtains and an interchangeable backdrop with four different Dreams or backgrounds: underwater adventure, fantasy, countryside and outer space. It also features a designated shelf to hold a tablet, where children can download any of four educational iBooks from iTunes including Farmer for the Day, Adventures in the Castle, Space Explorers and Underwater Adventures.
When playtime is over, it can easily transform into a cabinet or desktop and can serve as a storage place for toys. When closed, the armoire is more than 4 1⁄2 feet high and two feet wide. When opened, the DreamHut expands to nearly 6 feet in depth, giving kids enough space to play.
My daughter absolutely loved exploring everything the DreamHut had to offer during my visit. It is very easy to open/close and would absolutely spark hours of endless imagination. Due to the high-quality of the materials used, the product retails for $2,999 but grows as the child grows – and will offer years of use.
Recently I had the privilege of sitting down with the cast of Annie to talk about the process of making the movie, and it was a blast! After our interview with Cameron Diaz and Bobby Cannavale, who play Miss Hannigan and Guy in Annie, respectively, we got to speak with Quvenzhane Wallis (Annie herself), Jamie Foxx (Will Stacks), and the film’s director Will Gluck!
The interview started off with a discussion of Will’s feelings on re-making a “classic.” He explained that “we wanted to keep what connected with us in the original Annie— the musical and the movie– the story of optimism, hope, never giving up, finding your place in life, and family. That’s the feeling we wanted to take and connect with the bones of the great music, and we wanted to make it our own. So as long as we kept those touchstones, we felt that we could go off a little bit and make it what we wanted to do. We felt we did that. We felt that the spirit of Annie comes out.”
Jamie added that “If you look at re-makes today, everybody’s doing it… It’s great to grab a wonderful brand like this and then have a wonderful actress– Quvenzhane is nominated at such an early age, and now she steps into this iconic role– I just thought it was the right time… it seemed really fresh. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Continuing with Foxx, who is an incredible singer outside of Annie with a great album of his own, we discussed how he brought his previous experience to the role. He mentioned that “the songs are so great… anytime there’s music and you have a person [like Quvenzhane] who can bring the emotional energy and then here comes this iconic music we’ve listened to for years, it was a fun time.” Will Gluck added that “it was a really fun set– there’s nothing negative because this message is so positive.”
While the set may have been lots of fun, there is also a tremendous emotional impact to taking on an iconic story like Annie, and particularly a role like Annie herself. Noting this, Foxx turned to Quvenzhane Wallis and asked her “Are you ready for this big ride? For the rest of your life, people are going to [say] ‘That shaped my childhood’ or even grown people: ‘I took my child to see the new Annie.‘ How does that make you feel?” Wallis was all smiles. “It’s really exciting. It makes me feel very happy to know that I’m in the newest version that maybe even, like, three-year-olds will know and then when they get older… this is your original Annie.”
Whether this is your original Annie or you’ve been following the story through its various iterations since 1977, you’ll love the new take on the classic musical. Read our review, check out our interview with Cameron Diaz and Bobby Cannavale, and be sure to go see Annie the next time you head out to the movies!
Visiting New York is made simple by 
Saturday, Jan. 10
The DreamHut is an innovative new in-door, interactive play space that grows as the child grows. Using nothing but the finest, environmentally sustainable materials, the DreamHut features a stylish compact design that easily opens up in seconds to reveal a stimulating play area and converts into a sleek armoire when playtime is done.