With the release of Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Superheroes Edition less than a week away, it’s certainly exciting that some of the mysteries of the new game are finally becoming clearer, with new figures and features finally coming to light. The latest reveal in regard to the game is the release of a full list of the 82 new Power Discs that will be available for the game! For those of you not in the know, Disney Infinity‘s Power Discs (which are sold separately from the game and figures in random 2-packs) give players access to unique abilities vehicles, weapons, ground textures, backgrounds, and (new for 2.0) special costumes and team-ups. Of the 82 newly-announced Power Discs, 40 will draw from the Marvel Super Heroes end of things, while the other 42 will come from the Disney Originals (animated classics, Disney Channel shows, and so forth). All Marvel Power Discs will be available at the game’s launch next week, and the Disney Power Discs will be available beginning on November 4.
You can click on the pictures below for a look at the Disney and Marvel Power Discs, respectively, and check out our gallery at the bottom of the post for a glimpse at the Power Discs in action! Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes Edition will be available on September 23, 2014 on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, WiiU, 3DS, Playstation Vita, Microsoft Windows, and iOS.
September 16th is Working Parents Day! To celebrate, I’ll be hosting a #KeepGoodGoing Twitter Party from 8-9pm EST with @NewYorkLife and my very own wife Suzanne @GothamLove. Let’s get together to share tips on balancing hectic schedules (or maybe pickup a tip or two), and talk about the family moments that make it all worthwhile (you know those moments that we all sit there an say there sooo darn cute!). We’ll even be giving away prizes!
How to participate and win:
Before the Party, let us know you are attending by tweeting @NewYorkLife using hashtags #KeepGoodGoing and #WorkingParentsDay. When participating in the chat, be sure to use hashtag #KeepGoodGoing in all tweets to ensure you are eligible to win 1 of 4 Target gift cards. We also ask that you follow @NewYorkLife, @DaDaRocks, and @GothamLove. All winners will be randomly chosen.
1 Grand Prize: $350 Target gift card
3 First Prizes: $100 Target gift card (1 winner per $100 gift card)
Party Hashtag: #KeepGoodGoing
Who: Be sure to follow @NewYorkLife @GothamLove and @DaDaRocks
When: Tuesday, September 16th, 2014 from 8-9pm EST
How: In order to be eligible to win 1 of 4 Target gift card prizes, please tweet along with the chat using hashtag #KeepGoodGoing
Rules & eligibility:
No obligation. No purchase necessary to enter to win. Sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Sweepstakes ends on September 16, 2014 at 09:00:00 PM EST. Void where prohibited. Sponsored by New York Life Insurance Company, 51 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010. For complete rules for our #KeepGoodGoing Working Parents Day Twitter Party, please visit the Terms & Conditions
School is back in session, and with it comes the daily grind of homework, club and sports team meetings, and e like. Why not make some room in all of that to sit down as a family and watch some TV or a movie together? Whether it’s a weekly event or just once in a while, Netflix has you covered for family movie/tv night with tons of great titles to watch– check out our top recommendations below!
For younger kids:
1. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 Inventor Flint Lockwood battles mutant food beasts created by his notorious machine, including shrimpanzees, tacodiles and jellyfish sandwiches.
2. The Pirate Fairy In this spritely tale, Tinker Bell and her friends set out to find free-spirited fairy Zarina after she makes off with some precious Blue Pixie Dust.
3. Hoodwinked Investigators searching for a candy recipe thief uncover a tangled web of messy delights in this animated spoof of the Little Red Riding Hood story.
4. Angelina Ballerina Angelina Ballerina joins her friends for fun adventures in the palace, where they solve a mystery and put on a grand ballet for the king and queen.
5. Bob the Builder In this collection of tales, Bob and friends have to repair a barn right before a big storm hits, and Lofty the Crane is fitted with a strong magnet.
6. The Muppet Movie After deciding to pursue a career in acting, Kermit the Frog heads to Hollywood. Along the way, he meets Miss Piggy and the rest of the Muppets cast.
For older kids:
1. Strange Hill High Three students investigate numerous unusual occurrences at Strange Hill High, an all-but-forgotten inner-city school with many secrets and mysteries.
2. The Avengers An all-star lineup of superheroes — including Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk and Captain America — team up to save the world from certain doom.
3. The Smurfs 2 Evil magician Gargamel continues his quest to tap the power of the Smurfs, creating a pair of his own “Smurf-alikes” called the Naughties.
4. Star Wars: The Clone Wars Follow the animated adventures of the Jedi knights, including Anakin Skywalker and his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Season 6 available only on Netflix.
5. Free Birds When two adversarial turkeys find a time machine, they take a wild trip to the past to try to take turkey off the traditional Thanksgiving menu.
6. Mako Mermaids: An H2O Adventure This “H2O” sequel follows Zac, a boy who accidentally turns into a merman and threatens the existence of three young mermaids who guard Mako Island.
For teens and up:
1. Clueless Meddlesome Beverly Hills high school student Cher gets more than she bargained for when she gives a fashion-challenged student a makeover.
2. The Breakfast Club The athlete, the brain, the criminal, the princess and the basket case break through the social barriers of high school during Saturday detention.
3. Friday Night Lights Eric Taylor faces enormous pressure when he signs on as the new coach of a small-town Texas football team that’s poised to win the state championship.
4. The Vampire Diaries Trapped in adolescent bodies, feuding vampire brothers Stefan and Damon vie for the affection of captivating teenager Elena.
5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Ferris convinces his entire school he’s at death’s door, then hits the streets of Chicago with his girlfriend and best friend for a day of fun.
6. 13 Going on 30 When a geeky teen’s birthday party goes awry and she makes a wish that she could be 30, she wakes up to discover she’s flash-forwarded 17 years.
Before you sit down to watch one of these titles – or your own family favorite – check out these tipsfrom Common Sense Media on how to make family movie or TV night a success.
Everybody’s looking forward to see the new iPhone 6 today at 1pm ET. What do you think is the most wanted feature? Better camera? Bigger screen? You’d be surprised. Customer surveys show that what people wish for most is improved battery life. As for entirely new features sapphire glass tops the expectations list.
So what other interesting info can you find in the infographic?
Which iPhone model was the most innovative so far?
19% of Apple fans want a bigger screen size in iPhone 6
Apple sold more than 500 million iPhones worldwide
The first smartphone was released by IBM in ‘94, 13 years before the first iPhone
TeenSafe, maker of the leading iPhone and Android monitoring software for parents, announces its commitment to helping divorced parents protect their children. TeenSafe provides support and tools for parents in all situations to keep a watchful eye on their most valuable treasure.
“Very few parents achieve the level of communication they initially intend to after a divorce. Parenting becomes much more difficult after a martial divide for many reasons, some of the main causes being the loss of resources, increased stress, juggling of schedules and added responsibilities as well as disagreement on the proper disciplining of the children,” said Tina Sustaeta, Licensed Professional Counselor and Family Therapist. “If both parents have equal ability to monitor their children’s social media and cell phone activity, they are less likely to put the fault on each other if an issue arises. A monitoring service like TeenSafe levels the playing field and allows both parents the opportunity to stay aware of lives of their children, providing both parents an understanding of what subjects to focus on and address when ‘red flags’ appear.”
“At TeenSafe, our highest priority is to provide parents with invaluable tools that allow them to protect their children and communicate with them about significant issues. We all worry about what our children are facing through social media and mobile devices,” said Rawdon Messenger, CEO of TeenSafe. “We want parents to know about potential issues early on. TeenSafe is such a great tool for divorced parents to be aware, coordinated and proactive in their child’s lives.”
“I am a divorced father, now re-married with a blended family. Like most parents with joint custody we are very busy and keeping up with their many activities. To help stay better in touch with my kids I decided to purchase smartphones for them,” said an anonymous father and TeenSafe user. “Though I love that they can call me whenever they want to, I don’t have the ability to watch their activity on social media and text messages to ensure things are ok. If I continued parenting in oblivion, could my kids be communicating with people who might put them in danger? What if they were being bullied? I began researching phone monitoring solutions and found TeenSafe… Some of their friends use inappropriate language, but we are able to see it and avoid too much time spent with those friends. I don’t feel the need to check their online interactions on a daily basis, but when I have a feeling there could be something wrong I know I can check in on them.”
Half of all children in the U.S. see their parents separate. Divorce significantly increases the risk for them to have major life challenges, emotionally and physically. Research shows that children of divorcees are more likely to suffer academically, to have behavioral issues and to partake in drug and alcohol use as a teen. The psychological ramifications of divorce often last into adulthood. Thus, it is even more important for separated parents to be sensitive to the challenges of their children face.
TeenSafe provides parents the ability to see into their child’s digital world by offering discrete and convenient access to all their mobile phone activities, including their current location, text messages, deleted text messages, web browsing history, and Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Kik activity. It can allow parents to more easily detect issues such as truancy, drug abuse or bullying. Parents can take responsible action often before issues become crisis.
TeenSafe is very easy to set up and is the first iPhone monitoring solution that does not require any modifications to the device.
New information has recently been uncovered about an important link between the bedroom and obesity. Okay. I know what you’re thinking. But it’s not that link.
It’s the link between kids’ sleep quality and obesity. The link is more profound and more specific than many people expected. This information is so important because more than 1 in 3 children today end up overweight even as kids.[i]
Sleep in kids has been decreasing since 1905, about the time electric light bulbs were popularized.[ii] Some research suggests that sleep has been decreasing rapidly since the 1980s, during the same period when the childhood obesity epidemic took off.[iii]
More than a dozen studies have shown that the worse kids sleep, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese. But which comes first? Is it that overweight kids sleep worse, that kids who sleep worse become overweight, or that something else is causing both (TV viewing, for instance)?
This new study looked at typical 6-month-old babies and followed them until they were 7 years old to see which ones became obese – checking their sleep all along the way.
Here’s what they found:
Kids with worse sleep as babies and young children were 2.62 times more likely to later become obese. They were also more likely to have bigger waist size and more belly fat. These relationships held up even after adjusting for a number of possible other factors such as television viewing, socioeconomic situations, and Mom’s BMI.[iv]
How might poor sleep lead to significant weight gain? The authors point to mounting evidence that a disrupted circadian rhythm can both directly lead to weight gain by changing our hormone levels and metabolism and indirectly lead to weight gain by changing our hunger, fullness, and decision making.
When it comes to raising kids with a healthy weight during this era of childhood obesity, it’s time to move beyond thinking just about the kitchen to include thinking about the bedroom.
[i]Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association [0098-7484], Ogden yr:2014 vol:311 iss:8 pg:806 -814
[iiIn search of lost sleep: secular trends in the sleep time of school-aged children and adolescents. Sleep Medicine Reviews [1087-0792], Matricciani yr:2012 vol:16 iss:3 pg:203 -211
[iii]Trends in the duration of school-day sleep among 10- to 15-year-old South Australians between 1985 and 2004 Acta Paediatrica, J. Dollman, K. Ridley, T. Olds, E. Lowe 96 (7) (2007), pp. 1011–1014
The end of summer is fast-approaching, so what better time to get together as a family and watch some great movies and TV on Netflix? As an added bonus, our selections this month emphasize that we should get along with others, stressing the importance of kindness and acceptance for all. That’s a message that both kids and adults could certainly learn from these days (and certainly a good one to reiterate with school right around the corner)! So sit back, relax, and take your pick of the following movies and TV shows, featured this month on Netflix:
1. Rudy: Scrawny Rudy dreams of playing football at Notre Dame. Undaunted, Rudy works assisting the groundskeeper and joins the school’s practice squad.
2. Mulan: Disney brings an ancient legend to life in this animated tale of a tomboy who disguises herself as a man so she can fight with the Chinese Army.
3. A Mile in His Shoes: A minor-league baseball team finds renewed inspiration when they hire new pitcher Mickey Tussler, a lad who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome.
4. Radio: When a high-school football coach befriends a developmentally disabled man, his subsequent growth inspires the townsfolk to think differently.
5. Good Luck Charlie: Down a Tree
6. Glee: Amid relationship woes and personal attacks from a wicked cheerleading coach, a teacher fights to turn underdog glee club members into winners.
Want even more titles about kindness and acceptance? Our friends at Common Sense Media have shared a list of TV and movie titles that teach empathy – check out the list here.
If you or your children happen to be big superhero fans, you are going to love Marvel Universe Live! The show brings together a team of heroes– including Spider-Man, the Avengers, and some of the X-Men– to fight against Loki and a host of other villains, like Red Skull, the Sinister Six, and more, for a total of over 25 of your favorite Marvel characters battling it out before your very eyes!
The story to the show goes as such: Thor, in possession of the Cosmic Cube (or Tesseract, as it is also known) decides to split it into four pieces and scatter them across the globe in hope that no one person will ever again possess the cube’s full corrupting power. But Loki, clever and dangerous as he always is, devises a plan to use mutant energy and one fragment of the cube to create his own clone Tesseract. It’s up to the Avengers (with help from a few friends) to gather up the three remaining pieces of the Tesseract and stop Loki’s march toward world domination. How will they thwart his plans in time? Check out Marvel Universe Live when it comes to your area to find out!
Marvel Universe Live, which incorporates impressive fight choreography, stunts, motorcycle action, pyrotechnics, and of course, the sheer thrill of seeing countless Marvel heroes and villains live on stage, is a blast for comic book and superhero fans of all ages! We saw the show last week at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey and had an incredible time, but don’t fret if you missed it– Marvel Universe Live is still in the area at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn until August 17 and Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale until the 24th. It’s also going to be touring around the country until at least May 2015; you can check out the full tour schedule here.
For more info on Marvel Universe Live, visit the show’s official site.
Also, whether you’ve seen the show already or are eagerly awaiting the chance to go, check out the show’s “Marvel Universe Live Marketplace” on Overstock.com! The shop allows you to get your hands on exclusive Marvel Universe Live merchandise from the comfort of your home. Overstock.com is an official partner of Marvel Universe Live, and as an element of the partnership has (in addition to the Marketplace page) set up an arrangement with the not-for-profit Wounded Warrior Project. Overstock and Marvel Universe Live invited Wounded Warrior guests to attend the show in East Rutherford (with an interactive event preceding the live arena spectacular), and also made a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project in their honor.
If you’re looking for The Avengers, look elsewhere. Even though Guardians of the Galaxy shares some features with the 2012 superhero team-up hit, this movie is its own beast entirely, and quite an interesting one at that! Gone are the familiar heroes that typically inhabit the Marvel Cinematic Universe; there’s not a cape or a mask in sight (well, one mask, but it’s more like a breathing apparatus), and instead we’re met with a crew of misfits that includes a treasure hunter, an assassin, a vengeful warrior, a genetically-enhanced talking raccoon, and a humanoid tree.
Guardians of the Galaxy takes this ragtag band and shows us how they came together into the titular superhero team. Chris Pratt captivates as Star Lord from the second he first appears on screen, emanating roguish charm like a slightly-unhinged Han Solo. As we follow the would-be infamous outlaw through his quest to keep the purple infinity stone away from the villainous Ronan the Accuser, we meet the rest of the team that becomes the Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora (Zoe Saldana), determined to gain the stone to prevent Ronan from annihilating the universe; Drax (Dave Bautista), sworn to kill Ronan to avenge his wife and daughter; and Rocket and Groot (Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, respectively), who are just in it for profit. When the crew finds themselves in prison and being hunted by both sides of the law, how can they protect the stone and save the universe? Check out Guardians of the Galaxy in theaters now to find out!
(Note: While “Guardians of the Galaxy” may be a summer favorite for tweens, teens, and up, check twice before bringing little ones– there’s some mature language that makes the movie potentially inappropriate for kids under 8.)
If you avoid cold foods (like me – thanks AskAGreatDad for the photo), if you avoid hot foods, or if you feel that your teeth are overly sensitive and you didn’t know what to do, this product is for you! If your tooth brushing ritual is affected by sensitive teeth, then you need this as well, and fast!
Sensitive teeth toothpaste often contains potassium nitrate which helps to diffuse tubules and calm nerves. For many with more sensitive teeth, this is not enough. For those who want to know the secret of how the Crest Sensi-Stop Strips work, it is the Oxalate technology! It has been found that Oxalate crystals immediately seal tubule openings. With the tubule openings closed, the nerve endings are not exposed, the sensitivity issue is relieved!
Nearly 60% of folks complain of sensitive teeth, and only 4 out of 10 of those are satisfied with their current sensitivity solution. That is over one third of the whole population that need help!
The Crest Sensi-Stop Strips are applied directly to your teeth. They are small, flexible, and transparent. In 10 minutes, 1 strip can give you relief, and after one use, can last up to 30 days!
Crest Sensi-Stop Strips use the same ingredient as some professional procedures to seal dentinal tubules. What is that you ask? They are small passage ways that lead to your tooth nerve endings.
Benefits of Crest Sensi-Stop Strips with Oxalate Technology:
1. The strip stays on your teeth longer than a sensitivity toothpaste would.
2. Sensitivity strips are applied directly to the affected area thereby providing targeted delivery of the key ingredient.
3. Because the strip is placed so close to the affected area, it can close the tubules within 10 minuites. A sensiticity toothpaste may never get that close to the exact area.
4. Strips build a lasting barrier in 10 minutes that last for a month.
5. Fast acting, targeted delivery and lasting relief: that is the goal, that is what the Crest Sensi-Stop Strips provide!
This amazing new item is available in September, 2014. I have had a pack to try and it is wonderful. You can also go to crest.com right now to learn more and pre-order Crest Sensi-Stop Strips if tooth sensitivity is an issue for you or for someone else in the family!
Disclosure Notice: I was compensated by One2One Network for participating in the Crest launch event but all thoughts are my own.
Benefits of Crest Sensi-Stop Strips with Oxalate Technology: