Sunday, May 19, 2013
Nickelodeon Executive Ariana Urbont Gives Birth To Baby Girl
The entertainment news website The Hollywood Reporter is reporting the news that Ariana Urbont, who is the Vice President (VP) of communications at Nickelodeon, and her husband, television producer Billy Taylor, have welcomed their new daughter, Scarlett Josephine! Ariana Urbont gave birth to Scarlett Josephine on Tuesday 7th May 2013 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. NickALive! would like to say a huge congratulations to Ariana Urbont and Billy Taylor on their arrival!
Cupcake Digital Releases Brand New "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!" App Called "Wubbzy's Mash-Em Fun", Based On The Popular Nick Jr. Show
The New York-based app developer Cupcake Digital, Inc. has announced in the following press release, from the companies official blog, the release of their latest application based on Nick Jr.'s popular animated preschool series "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!" called "Wubbzy's Mash-Em Fun"!
In "Wubbzy's Mash-Em Fun", an exciting new arcade-style game app starring the ever lovable Nick Jr. character, Wubbzy. The Robot-Cluck 3000 and hundreds of robo-chicks are on the loose and it’s up to the player to save Wuzzleburg! Pick up the mallet and tap, tap, tap to mash, mash, mash away! Cupcake Digital has created yet another wubbtastic game with bright graphics, awesome sound effects and action-packed levels of play. The new app is available today on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play for $1.99.
WOW! WOW! WOW! FEATURES INCLUDE:
- Two awesome levels of play: Mash for younger kids provides a casual gaming experience and Mega Mash for older kids or anyone up for a serious challenge
- Pause button lets kids return to game play
- Three exciting Wuzzleburg locations to play in!
- Bonus rounds with fun-tastic mini-games
- Easy-to-follow instructions
Fans of "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy" can find many top-rated apps featuring Wubbzy's adventures in Wuzzleburg, including the recently released deluxe storybook experiences, "Wubbzy's Dance Party", "Wubbzy's Magic School", "Wubbzy The Superhero" and "Wubbzy Loves You". Wubbzy and his friends are also interacting with fans on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as iWubbzy, iDaizy, iWidget and iWalden:
In "Wubbzy's Mash-Em Fun", an exciting new arcade-style game app starring the ever lovable Nick Jr. character, Wubbzy. The Robot-Cluck 3000 and hundreds of robo-chicks are on the loose and it’s up to the player to save Wuzzleburg! Pick up the mallet and tap, tap, tap to mash, mash, mash away! Cupcake Digital has created yet another wubbtastic game with bright graphics, awesome sound effects and action-packed levels of play. The new app is available today on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play for $1.99.
WOW! WOW! WOW! FEATURES INCLUDE:
- Two awesome levels of play: Mash for younger kids provides a casual gaming experience and Mega Mash for older kids or anyone up for a serious challenge
- Pause button lets kids return to game play
- Three exciting Wuzzleburg locations to play in!
- Bonus rounds with fun-tastic mini-games
- Easy-to-follow instructions
Fans of "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy" can find many top-rated apps featuring Wubbzy's adventures in Wuzzleburg, including the recently released deluxe storybook experiences, "Wubbzy's Dance Party", "Wubbzy's Magic School", "Wubbzy The Superhero" and "Wubbzy Loves You". Wubbzy and his friends are also interacting with fans on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as iWubbzy, iDaizy, iWidget and iWalden:
Cupcake Digital Releases Wubbzy’s Mash-Em Fun, An Addictive New Game App Based on Popular Nick Jr. TV Series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!®
New York, NY (May 7, 2013) – Cupcake Digital, Inc. announced the release of Wubbzy’s Mash-Em Fun, an exciting new arcade-style game app starring the ever lovable Nick Jr. character, Wubbzy. The Robot-Cluck 3000 and hundreds of robo-chicks are on the loose and it’s up to the player to save Wuzzleburg! Pick up the mallet and tap, tap, tap to mash, mash, mash away! Cupcake Digital has created yet another wubbtastic game with bright graphics, awesome sound effects and action-packed levels of play. The new app is available today on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play for $1.99.
WOW! WOW! WOW! FEATURES INCLUDE:
- Two awesome levels of play: Mash for younger kids provides a casual gaming experience and Mega Mash for older kids or anyone up for a serious challenge
- Pause button lets kids return to game play
- Three exciting Wuzzleburg locations to play in!
- Bonus rounds with fun-tastic mini-games
- Easy-to-follow instructions
Fans of “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy®” can find many top-rated apps featuring Wubbzy’s adventures in Wuzzleburg, including the recently released deluxe storybook experiences, Wubbzy’s Dance Party, Wubbzy’s Magic School, Wubbzy The Superhero and Wubbzy Loves You. Wubbzy and his friends are also interacting with fans on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as iWubbzy, iDaizy, iWidget and iWalden.
###
ABOUT CUPCAKE DIGITAL
Cupcake Digital, Inc. was established in June 2012 with the intent of transforming children’s entertainment properties into deluxe story experiences infused with educational elements. The company’s first venture into digital applications was based on the Emmy® Award-winning television series “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!®” The Wubbzy apps released in 2012 have each been recognized with Parents’ Choice Classic, Fun Stuff Awards and have been consistently ranked among the top children’s book apps on Amazon and iTunes. Headquartered in NYC, Cupcake Digital was founded by proven professionals in the fields of technology, family entertainment, publishing and brand marketing. In October of 2012, Cupcake Digital received its first round of private funding and has since gone on to partner with additional major children’s entertainment properties.
ABOUT BOLDER MEDIA
Bolder Media, Inc. is a joint venture formed by veteran producers Susan Miller and Fred Seibert for the development of books, television series, movies and digital media for young boys and girls. Susan Miller of Bolder Media, Inc. and Mixed Media Group and Fred Seibert of Bolder Media, Inc. and Frederator Studios are executive producers on “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!®” ! Bob Boyle is the creator and executive producer of the series. “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!®” produced by Bolder Media, Inc. in association with Starz Media. www.boldermedia.com
NOTE TO MEDIA: Screen grabs, video clips, and promotion codes available upon request.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Guramrit Khalsa
Cupcake Digital
(917) 551-6530
guramrit.khalsa@cupcakedigital.com
Tags: apps for kids, cupcake digital, cupcake digital apps, game apps, kids apps, new releases, Press Releases, wubbzy apps
Category: INVESTOR NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, PRODUCT NEWS
Nickelodeon News Round-Up - Issue 2
Below is a selection of articles from around the internet which feature news, commentary and information about Nickelodeon:
Megan Fox and her body double were recently spotted on New York City set of Nickelodeon Movies' and Paramount Pictures' upcoming "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie, "Ninja Turtles". Megan Fox will play April O'Neil, the human friend of the Ninja Turtles, in Nick & Paramount's live-action/CGI film. Via E! Online UK.
In 2014, one of the biggest years in sports, Nickelodeon Superstar SpongeBob SquarePants will be the face of the first ever Nickelodeon Slime Cup!
The popular animated Nickelodeon shows "SpongeBob SquarePants", "The Penguins of Madagascar", "Fanboy & ChumChum", the "Dora The Explorer" television specials "Dora’s Enchanted Forest Adventures", and Nick Jr. UK's "Peppa Pig" deliver great TV ratings for the Spanish children's TV channel 'Clan'. Via Kidscreen.
Mezzotint, the record label owned by the American musician Mark Mulcahy, has announced the label will release Mark Mulcahy's new album, 'Dear Mark J Mulcahy I Love You', in the USA on Tuesday June 18, 2013. Mark Mulcahy is the former singer of the well regarded and influential American college rock band Miracle Legion. He also formed the band Polaris with Spot "Scott" Boutier and Dave McCaffrey, and wrote the music for the Classic Nickelodeon show "The Adventures of Pete & Pete". Polaris are perhaps best remembered for the song "Hey Sandy", song used for the "Pete & Pete"" theme song. Via DOA at adequacy.net.
Polaris playing Hey Sandy at the Pete & Pete reunion show at The Orpheum.
Nickelodeon helps celebrate the launch Norwegian Cruise Line's (NCL) new cruise ship, Norwegian Breakaway. Via CruiseCritic.co.uk.
In a recent press release from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, Out of the Blue Enterprises, an American children's television company based in New York City, founded by the co-creator of the Nickelodeon preschool animated/live action series "Blue's Clues" Angela C. Santomero and fellow former Nick executive Samantha Freeman Alpert, has revealed that PBS KIDS' new animated children's television series "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood", which is based on the Neighborhood of Make-Believe from the classic children's TV show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", is also inspired by Nickelodeon's preschool series "Blue's Room"! Via PRNewswire.
The Huffington Post is reporting that the American commercial broadcasting television network National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has ordered a brand new comedy series called "Welcome to the Family", which will star Classic Nickelodeon star Mike O'Malley, the host of Nickelodeon's children's game shows "Get the Picture" (USA), "Nickelodeon GUTS" and "Global GUTS". Mike O'Malley will star in the sitcom along with American actress Mary McCormack ("Murder One", "The West Wing" and "In Plain Sight"). Via The Huff Post.
The Guardian and Wikipedia are reporting that Nickelodeon acquired the TV development rights to the book "Diary of A Snob", a teenage novel by the columnist, author and broadcaster Grace Dent in 2011. Via The Guardian and Wikipedia.
A profile of the career of the 1990s teen rap duo Kris Kross, also known as artists Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith, who sang the "Rugrats Rap" song for Nickelodeon's popular animated original series (Nicktoon) Rugrats". Chris Smith tragically passed away on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 aged 34. The duo was best known for their hit 1992 song "Jump", which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and certified double platinum as a single, and for wearing clothes back to front. The "Rugrats Rap" is available as an extra on some Nickelodeon VHS tapes, on CD on "The Best of Nicktoons", and as an extra on the "Rugrats: Decade in Diapers Collectors Edition DVD":
Via The Telegraph.
The Telegraph also has a obituary for musician Chris-Kelly, which you can read here on telegraph.co.uk.
The creative studio East Pleasant has hired Michelle Cuccuini Hicks as an executive producer. She joins East Pleasant following several years as head of production at Cause & Effect Productions in New York. Hicks has worked on spots for brands such as Gatorade, Apple, Gap, Michelob, McDonald's, Nike and Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. She won an Emmy for her work on the Los Angeles Marathon, and multiple Emmy award nominations and a pair of 2011 PromaxBDAs for a Nickelodeon PSA campaign on Black History Month. Via Creativity Online.
The A.V. Club previews Greg Berlanti and Julie Plec's brand new remake of the Classic Nickelodeon USA sci-fi television show "The Tomorrow People" for The CW Network. The series will premiere Fall (Autumn) 2013 and will air Wednesdays at 9pm. A.V.'s article also features two special sneak peek online streaming video clips of CW's latest version of "The Tomorrow People". Via avclub.com.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon News!
A Profile Of The Canadian Animator And Musician Duo Adam Goddard and Warren Brown, The Makers Of Nick Jr. UK's "Big Block SingSong"
In a special article, below, NiagaraThisWeek.com, a community online newspaper which covers the Niagara region of Southern Ontario, Canada, profiles Toronto, Canada-based Adam Goddard and Warren Brown, also known as Goddard/Brown, purveyors of fine audio/visual works and the talented animator and musician duo from Grimsby, Canada, who make Nick Jr. UK and Ireland's new musical interstitial animated preschool series "Big Block SingSong", which features block-like characters who sing topical, humorous songs in each episode:
Big Block Singsong makes waves
Talented animator/musician team hail from Grimsby
Big Block Singsong makes waves. Colourful blocks of animation tell stories and impart important lessons in Block Block Singsong, a series of animated shorts from Warren Brown and Adam Goddard. The two men grew up in Grimsby, and their work is now being seen internationally. Images courtesy of Goddard/Brown
Sometimes, even a blockhead can give you some really helpful advice. Kids and parents across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom are figuring this out, thanks to Big Block Singsong. Episodes of the show are barely two minutes long, and feature colourful block-headed characters who sing and dance their way through catchy tunes.
"Breathe out. Breathe in. Take some time, count to ten. Now you're ready to begin, to cool it down," sing the characters in one video, providing sound advice to viewers young and old who are sad or frustrated.
The kid-friendly music, positive message and quirky animation have been a hit on the CBC in Canada, Disney Junior in the US and Nick Jr. in the UK. The professional quality of the production might lead some viewers to assume the animation is the creation of a large studio team. In reality, there are just two men behind the show, and both hail from Grimsby.
Adam Goddard, 40, and Warren Brown, 40, have been working together for over a decade. Goddard composes and performs the music in every episode of Big Block Singsong, while Brown creates the animations. The two men first met early in life, and attended the same high school, but never suspected they'd be creative collaborators later in life. Friendship, and professional partnership, came later, when both men had were out of school and living in Toronto. Brown was working at Cuppa Coffee Animation in Toronto, and found himself in need of a musician.
"I was looking to connect with some musician, and was talking to a mutual friend of Adam and I. That fellow connected us, and we just started to talk about music and animation," said Brown. "That went on as a once in a blue moon thing, until the studio I was working with came up with a show. I was the director of that show, and decided I wanted Adam to do the music for it."
The show, Bruno, was a one-minute animated short with narration and music, focused on the antics of Bruno the monkey. Bruno was a success and ran for 50 episodes in 2004, and was seen internationally through Nickelodeon cable outlets.
"It had a narrator, but it was really Adam's score that told the story. The voice of the monkey was Adam's music," said Brown.
The partnership on Bruno cemented Goddard and Brown's friendship and professional cooperation. They have worked together ever since, typically on kid-friendly productions like Big Block Singsong. Brown believes that the show's humour and aesthetic also appeal to adults, comparing it to "Terry Gilliam crossed with Mr. Dressup."
"When Big Block Singsong came about, we weren't necessarily aiming for a kid show, to see what could be done with full face singing characters bringing the song aspect to the forefront of the story telling," said Brown.
Goddard said the animations are a perfect vehicle for his song writing. He said he strives to include a positive or educational message in every episode.
"If there's a story to be told or a character to be described, it's through a song of some sort," said Goddard. "It's primarily entertainment, but the message is always positive."
Both men credit their upbringing in Niagara as an influence on their current creative output. Their similar background gives them a wealth of shared experiences from which to draw inspiration.
The inspiration comes out of the process, of how we collaborate together. We are on the same page with a lot of things, and that had a lot to do with our upbringing and where we are from. There is a certain culture that exists where we come from," said Goddard.
For more on Big Block Singsong, visit www.bigblocksingsong.com.
Big Block Singsong makes waves
Talented animator/musician team hail from Grimsby
Big Block Singsong makes waves. Colourful blocks of animation tell stories and impart important lessons in Block Block Singsong, a series of animated shorts from Warren Brown and Adam Goddard. The two men grew up in Grimsby, and their work is now being seen internationally. Images courtesy of Goddard/Brown
Sometimes, even a blockhead can give you some really helpful advice. Kids and parents across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom are figuring this out, thanks to Big Block Singsong. Episodes of the show are barely two minutes long, and feature colourful block-headed characters who sing and dance their way through catchy tunes.
"Breathe out. Breathe in. Take some time, count to ten. Now you're ready to begin, to cool it down," sing the characters in one video, providing sound advice to viewers young and old who are sad or frustrated.
The kid-friendly music, positive message and quirky animation have been a hit on the CBC in Canada, Disney Junior in the US and Nick Jr. in the UK. The professional quality of the production might lead some viewers to assume the animation is the creation of a large studio team. In reality, there are just two men behind the show, and both hail from Grimsby.
Adam Goddard, 40, and Warren Brown, 40, have been working together for over a decade. Goddard composes and performs the music in every episode of Big Block Singsong, while Brown creates the animations. The two men first met early in life, and attended the same high school, but never suspected they'd be creative collaborators later in life. Friendship, and professional partnership, came later, when both men had were out of school and living in Toronto. Brown was working at Cuppa Coffee Animation in Toronto, and found himself in need of a musician.
"I was looking to connect with some musician, and was talking to a mutual friend of Adam and I. That fellow connected us, and we just started to talk about music and animation," said Brown. "That went on as a once in a blue moon thing, until the studio I was working with came up with a show. I was the director of that show, and decided I wanted Adam to do the music for it."
The show, Bruno, was a one-minute animated short with narration and music, focused on the antics of Bruno the monkey. Bruno was a success and ran for 50 episodes in 2004, and was seen internationally through Nickelodeon cable outlets.
"It had a narrator, but it was really Adam's score that told the story. The voice of the monkey was Adam's music," said Brown.
The partnership on Bruno cemented Goddard and Brown's friendship and professional cooperation. They have worked together ever since, typically on kid-friendly productions like Big Block Singsong. Brown believes that the show's humour and aesthetic also appeal to adults, comparing it to "Terry Gilliam crossed with Mr. Dressup."
"When Big Block Singsong came about, we weren't necessarily aiming for a kid show, to see what could be done with full face singing characters bringing the song aspect to the forefront of the story telling," said Brown.
Goddard said the animations are a perfect vehicle for his song writing. He said he strives to include a positive or educational message in every episode.
"If there's a story to be told or a character to be described, it's through a song of some sort," said Goddard. "It's primarily entertainment, but the message is always positive."
Both men credit their upbringing in Niagara as an influence on their current creative output. Their similar background gives them a wealth of shared experiences from which to draw inspiration.
The inspiration comes out of the process, of how we collaborate together. We are on the same page with a lot of things, and that had a lot to do with our upbringing and where we are from. There is a certain culture that exists where we come from," said Goddard.
For more on Big Block Singsong, visit www.bigblocksingsong.com.
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