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Nature Superhero is App of the Week!

February 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Nature Superhero is App of the Week - Backrs earn a 54% return

In the first week of our Nature Superhero Appbackr campaign, we raised $8,339 which is 35% more than we did in 30 days with our Kickstarter campaign.  Here’s what we have learned.  Although less people overall may contribute to Appbackr (because its unfamiliar), those that take a look tend to invest more than they would have contributed on Kickstarter. This is borne out by the numbers.  Our 138 Kickstarter backers contributed an average of $45.  The minimum for our Appbackr is $100 and the average investment is a whopping $2,085!

As you can see above, the minimum buy is $100 (for 63 units of Nature Superhero at the wholesale price of $1.75), which returns $154 dollars when the units sell at the App market.

BACK NOW

For more info, see our Nature Superhero page.

Jane McGonigal says Gaming is Very Important for Our Future at TED

Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) believes that games are an important platform for change and that gaming can change the world. She asks the question, what if we could harness all the energy and attention, and focus it on solving the world’s greatest problems? She says “Let the World Changing games begin.” She is predicting that a gamer will win the Nobel peace prize within 5 years; I wonder if she’s thinking herself, especially since she believes in “making the future” rather than predicting the future. Assuming she is right, games in the Real World (RW) genre like Nature Superhero will be particularly important in this process.

Now is the Time

Now is the time to get in.  We expect to sell out of the allotted pre-sale units in the next several weeks.  We are gearing up for a big announcement mid next week about an early customer that will use a “white label” version of the Nature Superhero app. This customer could give the app tremendous reach.  Hint: its not a dot org.  Because Appbackr pays backrs on a “First-In, First-Out” basis, the early you get your units the better.

Become a Backer Now

Coming Up: Call for nominations for Kid’s Advisory Board Seats

Filed Under: Stories, Ventures Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Talib Kweli in the Pacha’s Pajamas Recording Studio

February 24, 2012 By 1 Comment

The other day world-famous rapper Talib Kweli recorded an amazing song for Pacha’s Pajamas called “Butterfly Life.” It’s about a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, and once you hear it you’re gonna want to share it with everyone you know.

Kweli arrived at the studio, listened to the beat, pulled up the Wikipedia entry for ‘butterfly,’ and crafted his brilliant lyrics in only 45 minutes (see them below). Then he spent the next hour or two recording the vocals.

He also read the lines for Pebble, a character in the story who helps make the decision to throw the nature festival.

Kweli is truly one of the greatest lyricists of our day. Check to these videos to witness his amazing contributions to Pacha’s Pajamas.

 

BUTTERFLY LIFE LYRICS:

Let me break it down, make it plain
tell you cut and dry
How I get by
living the life of a butterfly
Nature’s OG
I’m a pollen transporter
They call me OT
Original transformer
Cuz I used to be a caterpillar
Till I metamorphized
Used to have 16 legs, 6 pair of eyes
I spent my free time
Dreaming about the sky
I was stuck on the ground wishing I could fly
My only job was to grub
I wipe my plate clean
Living the life of a vegan eating them leafy greens
The flowers bloom I’m breaking out of cocoons
Artists are inspired by I’m making them swoon
But now I put my larvae days behind me
Flying through the air is where you’ll find me
When I was a caterpillar yeah I got grime
Now I take flight and it’s way more exciting

CHORUS:

Fly fly away, stand up for your flights
Fly fly away, stand up for your flights
Fly fly away, stand up for your flights
Fly fly away, stand up for your flights

SECOND VERSE:

It’s that butterfly life
The moth is my cousin
And sometimes we fly alike
As I fly flutter by like a thought running through your mind
I’m proud of my species we got many different kinds
We got moth-butterflies true butterflies and skippers
Watch you plant flowers in your garden and I kiss em
If nature is a painter and our canvas is blank
Then we callin’ it the forest and my colors is the paint
My caterpillars days are still a part of me
Whole kingdoms are named after me, they callin’ it a monarchy
I’m a great subject for photography
In the park little kids follow me
Like the pied piper, except it ain’t the music it’s the colors
Butterfly life you gotta love it
It’s except it ain’t the music it’s the colors
The butterfly life you gotta love it

Filed Under: Characters, Edutainment Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social Media Transforms Parent-Child and Star-Fan Relationships

February 22, 2012 By

Feeling Linspired

Lately, Jeremy Lin’s meteoric rise to stardom has emerged as one of the hottest topics. Even David Letterman and the Saturday Night Live Cast have acknowledged the Linsanity that has overtaken so many people, including those who don’t normally follow NBA basketball. Adding to the list of interesting Jeremy Lin puns is “Superior Lintellect,” a video on YouTube with nearly 450,000 views that gives play-by-play commentary on Lin’s skillfully calculated moves. In an affected Asian accent (which could be perceived as off-putting), the creator illustrates how Lin adroitly devises the most exact and astute moves to challenge veteran players that are older and taller than him. Using Paint, he scribbles fake mathematical formulas to mirror Lin’s thought process. While this may seem racist, this clip intends to playfully satirize the stereotype that Asians excel in math. Lin’s success debunks the notion that we need to choose between sports and academics–they can inform and support one another. It’s a tribute to Lin for playing “smart” basketball.

Indeed, Lin has emerged as one of the top point guards after leading the Knicks in a seven-game winning streak. On February 4, after sitting on the bench the entire season, Lin was given a chance to lead and scored 25 points to secure a victory over the New Jersey Nets. In his first five starts, he racked up more points than any other player during their first starts since the NBA-ABA merger.

To many people, he embodies great athleticism, an excellent work ethic, intellect, and even the American Dream. An incredibly humble and low-key individual, he opened up about how he was sleeping on his brother’s couch just two weeks ago. Although he played very well at Harvard, he was not initially picked up by any NBA teams. He was also cut by two clubs before getting signed by the Knicks. Despite these setbacks, he continuously pursued his goal of playing professional basketball.

He is changing stereotypes, as his success refutes the idea that NBA and many contact sports in general are out of reach for Asians and Asian Americans. He explained, “There are stereotypes, obviously. There are a lot of them. The more we can do to break those down every day, the better we become. Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll see a lot more Asians and Asian-Americans in basketball and the NBA.” Such a positive attitude, perseverance, and social awareness render Lin as a transnational role model.

The Private Becomes Shockingly Public

In this eight-minute video, Tommy Jordan, an angry father, berates and punishes his daughter for writing a disrespectful letter about her parents on Facebook. This video has gotten 28,451,993 views since February 8. It brings up a lot of concerns, such as social media hindering communication between parents and children. As Facebook is a largely free platform for people to post their quips, opinions, and frustrations, it gives both adults and children the choice to publicize their private concerns and life. His anger and frustration culminates in shooting multiple bullets into her laptop. Jordan seems to utilize the logic of retributive justice, as he claims that he will post this video on her Facebook wall so that she can have a taste of her own medicine. Jordan’s administration of “tough love” has not only divided viewers nationwide but invited visits from the police and child protection agencies. However, the fact still remains that many people do praise his intent to discipline his child, especially in support of moderate and respectful use of social networking. It opens up a whole can of worms, asking us to consider how Facebook is influencing not only those of kids but parents’ ideas about how to communicate with their children. This entire situation arises from bringing such intensely personal family matters into the public sphere. The question still stands: does Facebook encourage us to be excessively open about our personal lives?

Stars Create and Promote Their Own Videos

Carlos Pena, Jr. of Nickelodeon’s “Big Time Rush” uploaded a goofy, fun music video with his high profile friends, including Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, and Ashley Tisdale, rocking out to Carly Rae Jepsen’s song, “Call Me Maybe.” This song hit Canadian Hit 100 on February 11, 2012, and will most likely garner mainstream success in the U.S. After premiering on February 18, 2012, Pena’s video has already accumulated nearly 4 million hits. Gomez had previously tweeted about this song as a tribute to her boyfriend, Bieber. Pena utilized his impressive social network and the extensive audience of YouTube to support his friend’s lead single. YouTube offers such an interconnected environment in which we can properly use our social network to publicize issues, music, and news that we care about. It’s awesome to see teen celebrities banding together in support of their friend. Speaking of stars showcasing their work on YouTube, actor James Franco also debuted an advertisement for 7 For All Mankind, a denim company. The advertisement, titled Episode 1, features model Lily Donaldson as the life of the party. We are not sure if this is going to be part of a webisode series, but we’ll definitely stay tuned.

Filed Under: News, Transformational Entertainment, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

Envisioning Platypus and Pacha’s Lil’ Brother

February 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Character Development: Platypus and Pacha's Little Brother

Above are the first character development sketches for Platypus (or is it MC Platypus?) and Pacha’slil bruh.

For now, little brother is “Paco”.  Do you like his name?  Other suggestions were Pancho, Ash and Logan.

We were thinking of a little b-boy rapper with a big smile. He’s probably around 5 years old!  We are thinking to make Paco a bit more b-boy that above though we’d like him to clean up well.  What do you think?  How do you want to see him (e.g., poses, gear, etc)? Also,  do you want to see what he looks like with eyes like Pacha?

Kudos to our Resident Artist Joe Mohr for whipping these together on short notice.

Filed Under: Characters Tagged With: , , , , ,

Support Ground Breaking App and Earn 54% Profit

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Greetings Superheroes ~

Would you like to learn about Mobile Game Apps, earn a whopping 54% in several months and support a groundbreaking app that moves children into action on critical environmental issues? Don’t miss this limited opportunity. You can get started for as little as $100. Secure your spot as a “backr” today. Profits are distributed on first-in, first-out basis.

BACK NOW

How You Can Make 54% Return in Several Months

The team at BALANCE Edutainment is working with Appbackr, a digital wholesale marketplace for mobile apps, to fund the development of our new interactive game-app, Nature Superhero. Nature Superhero is the companion Mobile Game app to Pacha’s Pajamas, a Transmedia Experience Platform about a little girl who becomes a Superhero for Nature by organizing the world’s biggest festival with wild animals and plants! In the coming month, Nature Superhero will debut on the Appbackr marketplace as a $4.99 IOS (iPhone/iPad/iPod) app. Appbackr has agreed to make Nature Superhero “App of the Week”, help optimize our raise, drive sales and promote Nature Superhero through their networks.

Through Appbackr, a “backr” (a financial supporter) of the Nature Superhero app purchases pre-sale App units and makes a profit of 54% when the units are sold!  If you buy 600 units of the app at $1.75 wholesale price for a total of $1,050, when the units sold through the Apple App Store (starting in April 2012), you will receive $1,620.  That’s a 54% return on investment.

  • You do not have manage inventory, sell or distribute product
  • You buy units wholesale and help promote through social media/web
  • You receive a disbursement after sales occur at the Apple App store
  • You get paid based on a first-in first-out basis whether not you drove the traffic to the Apple store

54% in months is an amazing return for for buying wholesale units of a groundbreaking app before it is publicly available.

Filed Under: Crowdfunding, Ventures Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Popular Culture can be Nutritious as well as Delicious!

February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In the 1940s, a group of exiled neo-Marxist intellectuals called the Frankfurt School denounced popular culture as a means for politically disempowering the working class. They considered pop culture to be generic products lacking in artistic and social merit. That may be the case for many works, but we at Balance Edutainment challenge this pessimistic, in toto rejection of Pop Culture. Rather we choose to create and celebrate popular works that raise awareness of critical issues and encourage actions that make the world a better place.  In short, our mission is to #Occupy Pop Culture.

Last year’s benefit concert for the earthquake in Haiti - Hope for Haiti Now - is a case in point.  The concert reminds us that music has unparalleled power to rally support, spread awareness and heal trauma. At the same time, we hope that it won’t always take natural disasters to unite us. Wouldn’t it be amazing if our art and music could be the clarion call for us to come together and offer helping hands to people in need? They raised $61 million. Benefit concerts have become popular ever since 1985′s Live Aid, which raised $245 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.

Most Pop Culture is like Junk Food

Unfortunately, most pop culture is like junk food; it may “taste” great, but it really isn’t good for us. By showcasing pop culture that is both nutritious and delicious, we hope to inspire artists to create and perform meaningful works to uplift and encourage people, especially youth, to make healthy choices and to actively engage with social causes that impact all of us. We are reaching out on Twitter to compile and promote nutritious pop culture.

For example, in the video below, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Mary J. Blige and many more perform the hit song “Just Stand Up” for Stand Up 2 Cancer whose mission is:

Stand Up To Cancer is a new initiative created to accelerate groundbreaking cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. SU2C’s goal is to bring together the best and the brightest in the cancer community, encouraging collaboration instead of competition. By galvanizing the entertainment industry, SU2C creates awareness and builds broad public support for this effort.

This is where the end of cancer begins.

Let’s Change Pop Culture by Tweeting What’s Nutritious

You can get involved by tweeting out (and retweeting) your favorite nutritious pop culture songs in this format:
#nutritiouspopculture “[name of media]” [link to video] by [twitter handle if exists or artist name] http://bit.ly/x5byIp

It’s super easy! Like this:

#nutritiouspopculture “Who Says” http://bit.ly/oO5Kx9 by @selenagomez http://bit.ly/x5byIp

Check out contemporary songs that uplifting and/or socially conscious!

Of course, we can tweet films as well!

Older Songs: A Foundation for Nutritious Popular Culture
Whitney Houston: “The Greatest Love of All”
Bob Dylan: “The Times Are A-Changin’,” “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Pete Seeger: “If I Had a Hammer” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”
Michael Jackson: “Man in the Mirror” and “Heal the World”
Jackson 5: “I’ll Be There”
USA For Africa: “We Are The World”
Simon and Garfunkel: “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Boxer”
John Lennon, “Imagine”
Sam Cooke (Noteworthy Covers by Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding), “A Change is Gonna Come”
Aretha Franklin, “Think”, “Respect”
Nina Simone, “Images” and “Four Women”
Billie Holliday, “Strange Fruit”
Woody Guthrie, “This Land is Your Land”
Bob Marley, “Get Up, Stand Up” and “War”
Marvin Gaye, “What’s Goin’ On” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Mercy Mercy Me”
Aerosmith, “Dream On” and “Nobody’s Fault”
Fannie Lou Hamer, “This Little Light of Mine” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”
Lynrd Skynyrd, “All I Can Do Is Write About It”

Links for Nutritious Pop Culture

Check out this blogger’s top 5 choices for the best socially conscious songs.

This slideshow highlights the top ten socially conscious songs of 2010.

This website details the best socially conscious songs of this past century.

Here’s also a survey of the best environmental pop songs. Do you agree?

Of course, here’s a long list of songs about the environment on Wikipedia.

HelpingHaven.com is a music-driven philanthropy platform that creates socially conscious, inspirational music to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes such as homelessness, domestic violence, disaster relief, child education, and environmental issues.

We know that you have lots of ideas in mind! Tweet’em with the #nutritiouspopculture tag, and we’ll retweet them. Let’s shake things up on the online community until Nutritious Pop Culture becomes the norm.

We’re so pumped to see what on your mind! We can help make Pop culture both fun and meaningful if we choose to support #nutritiouspopculture with our dollars and our tweets.

Filed Under: Edutainment, Transformational Entertainment, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , , ,

YouthTube Trends: Hana Thanks Selena Gomez

February 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Thank You from Hana Hwang to Selena Gomez

This week, a thank-you video from Hana Hwang to Selena Gomez warmed the hearts and souls of youth nationwide. It’s currently topping viewership charts for 13-17 year olds, especially among the girls. Hana suffers from a fatal genetic illness called progeria, which causes people to age eight to ten times faster than the average person. To thank Selena for her surprise visit, Hana expresses her appreciation and love on video.

2,078,483 Views as of February 11, 2012 (Posted on January 12, 2012)

After Ryan Seacrest learned that Hana is a huge fan of Selena Gomez, he contacted the singer-actress, who decided to pay the 13-year-old a visit at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. When asked why she loves Selena so much, Hana simply replies, “she’s my hero.” Hana loves all of Selena’s songs, especially “Spotlight” and “Who Says” because they inspire her to continue fighting for her life. Hana even writes down all of Selena’s song lyrics in her diary, and she specifies, “Only Selena’s songs.”

In the video, she gives a mini-tour of her work station above her hospital bed, on which she treasures a framed photo of her and Selena and handmade jewelry she loves to make. Hana proudly holds up a sequined bracelet that she has made for Selena. Although many people denounce popular culture as commercialized and lacking artistic merit, positive public figures like Selena Gomez can uplift and encourage hope among many young fans through meaningful art, music, and philanthropy.

ALERT: Support our Recruit Selena campaign

Lampooning Quirks for Laughs

2,293,235 Views as of February 11, 2012 (Posted on January 20, 2012)
You probably have already seen a lot of these videos ‒ the ones that say Sh** [Insert type of group] Say ‒ displaying a range of humorous catchphrases from groups as different as Asian parents, girls, and LA people. While most feature one-dimensional caricatures and hokey dialogue, they often strike a chord with audiences through skilled editing, acting and/or astute observations. The original video focusing on female quirks has led to numerous spin-offs satirizing idiosyncrasies of diverse groups. This week, we have S*** Girlfriends Say, which basically presents girlfriends as shrewish and overly emotional and comes off slightly misogynistic. Unfortunately, the spin-off focuses solely on the catty and pathetic tendencies of young women. In line with over-the-top reenactments of common rituals and sayings, JennaMarbles released a video in which she lampoons girls primping themselves like crazy in front of their bathroom mirror. We’ve noticed that many YouTubers now use video to humorously reenact and capture behavioral and linguistic trends that we often don’t realize we practice.

Anxiety-Ridden Fantasy About Technology

539,087 Views as of February 11, 2012 (Posted on February 3, 2012)

In a rather tongue-in-cheek manner, this short film adopts a premise similar to The Terminator series, in which advanced forms of technology can outsmart and annihilate the human race. Nathan, the protagonist, finds an abandoned iPhone 4S on the ground. While Siri may seem like the ideal personal assistant, she has something other in mind–total, unmediated vengeance against two clueless twenty-something year old guys. With impressive special effects and a hyper-dramatic, suspenseful plot surrounding one of our most beloved devices, Psycho Siri is not surprisingly a favorite among guys.

Filed Under: YouthTube Trends Tagged With:

Messages for Selena Gomez from Melia and Melia’s Papa

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Melia, a huge fan of Selena Gomez, sings an A Cappella verse of “Who Says” and then sends a message to Selena asking her to participate in our green musical and app project, Pacha’s Pajamas.

Melia’s Papa lets Selena know that this was completely Melia’s idea, and asks Selena to at least take a look at Pacha’s Pajamas and respond to Melia.

Filed Under: Shoutouts

Pacha’s Pajamas App is Finalist for Common Pitch South Africa

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We are excited to share that BALANCE Edutainment has been has been selected to be featured at COMMON Pitch: South Africa! In the video above, we proposed to localize the Pacha’s Pajamas Nature Superhero App for Africa.

The COMMON Pitch: South Africa event, in partnership with Design Indaba, one of the world’s leading design events now in its 17th year, celebrates fresh ideas for socially innovative business in Cape Town’s Edwardian-style City Hall, amidst live music, mentors and a creative audience of designers, architects, entrepreneurs, artists and more.

COMMON Pitch is a rare, incredible opportunity for BALANCE and nine other social innovators to bring the world their ideas, and get the chance to take home $25,000 in funding – enough to fund the evolution of your social-enterprise startup. In the past, the event and its featured entrepreneurs have been covered in flurries of press by publications like Mashable, PSFK, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Next Web. We can’t wait to get a taste of the spotlight, meet the  amazing team of COMMON Pitch mentors, judges and collaborators, and attend COMMON and Design Indaba events and parties.

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: , , ,

Dear Los Angeles, Don’t Sleep On Pacha’s Pajamas!

February 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It’s sunrise on the highway 5 and we’re super excited to share and tweet our @pachaspajamas adventure to Los Angeles! Wait, is #LosAngeles a hashtag? LOL. 

Even though it’s Super Bowl weekend, we won’t be watching much much than Madonna’s halftime showl We’re more interested in using this trip south to engage the entertainment hub of Los Angeles in our vision to #Occupy Pop Culture. We’ll be reminding Hollywood, “Don’t sleep on Pacha’s Pajamas!” 

In all seriousness, we’re following this trail of urban fairy tales and telling these stories through innovative technology platforms and social media. We’ll be networking at the GATE story conference and pitching our vision of using edutainment as a fun way to engage youth and families on critical environmental issues. We’ll also be shooting a fresh and conscious music video with the phenomenal 13 year old rapper, Miles McAliley! As if that’s not enough, we’ll be searching for potential @selenagomez sightings with the @RecruitSelena campaign! 

To participate in this journey, please follow @pachaspajamas, @ablemantra, and @meliaspapa as we push the levels of your imagination on Twitter (#PACHA and #selena4green).
Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: , , ,
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