Coast 2 Coast Mom

7 Favorite Transformers Toys and Gifts for the Holidays

Last winter during NY Toy Fair, I had the pleasure of visiting the Hasbro showroom for a peek at the toys coming over the course of the year :-D There was a lot going on for our family that weekend in the city, so we drove in, and as @c2cdad and the Kiddo dropped me off, they shouted out in simultaneous excitement, "That's Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime's here!!" It was exciting and hilarious both at once - the real, full-size Optimus Prime from Transformers Dark of the Moon on the streets of NYC.

But of course, here was Optimus inside the showroom...

LEGO Star Wars The Padawan Menace TV Special

The LEGO Group and Lucasfilm are joining forces to present LEGO® Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, their first-ever original TV special. Premiering on Cartoon Network on Friday, July 22 at 7 p.m., the 30-minute original standalone special will feature the charm, action and humor that we've come to expect from the LEGO Star Wars animation collaborations. (We just love their facial expressions and animated noises - such creative personalities for bricks!)

 

Andie MacDowell Interview for the Monte Carlo Movie

Earlier this week I had the treat of interviewing Andie MacDowell for the movie Monte Carlo, which opens today in theatres. She plays the mother of Selena Gomez's character, Grace Bennett, who leaves her small Texas town after high school graduation to embark on an adventure in Paris and Monte Carlo. Andie MacDowell was just as thoughtful, classy and articulate as you imagined. It was a delight speaking with her via phone, alongside a few other bloggers: @theculturemom, @rolemommy, @5minutesformom, and I'm so appreciative that she could join us to chat!

Isn't she gorgeous?! Here's what I asked her:

Summer Fun with Martha Speaks on PBS

Last week I attended a behind-the-scenes PBS KIDS webinar with Martha Speaks childrens book series author Susan Meddaugh, and Carol Greenwald, the senior executive producer for the show. The pair were passionate and delightful as they spilled some secrets of the series, objectives for the show, and gave a sneak peek at two new Martha Speaks episodes this week.

PBS KIDS Toy Line and PBS KIDS Online Shop Launch Today

PBS is launching a PBS KIDS toy line and online PBSKIDSshop.com today and I couldn't be more excited! In an effort to reinforce learning through yet another avenue, PBS is introducing toys to extend preschool learning beyond TV, online and mobile - and into the creative hands, hearts and heads of kids anywhere.

 
The new PBS Kids toy line includes 20 wooden play sets:

• PBS KIDS Sounds of the World Rhythm Set, one of several musical toys designed to foster hand-eye coordination and children’s exploration of sound.
• PBS KIDS Puzzle Playsets, themed playsets that promote imaginative play and encourages children to explore new words. The playsets willbe offered in safari, beach and playground themes.
• Building and construction toys, like my FAVORITE above -  the PBS KIDS Exploration Blocks City.
• PBS KIDS 3-Layer Puzzles (in Barn, Camping and other themes) to promote problem-solving, letter recognition, number matching and other developing skills.

Watching Hulu Plus on Xbox 360 with Kinect

Like a scene from Minority Report, with one simple wave of my hand we were watching Steve Carell's final episode on The Office on our living room TV. Something reserved only for sci-fi movies in the past has become pretty cool reality. :-) Welcome to the future of media consumption, where just like the ubiquitous finger swipe on your smartphone touchscreens, now voice and gesture control are making their way toward replacing your TV remote control.

 
Last week was the Hulu Upfront where Hulu talked about the future of their business with regards to distribution across multiple platforms, including the Xbox 360. We've been using Hulu Plus for the Xbox 360 with Kinect for the past week, and I have to say that it's been fun. 

While we're used to the futuristic sensor-based fun of playing Kinect for many months now; however, the fact that we can play, pause and fast forward 30 Rock with my hand or voice is still pretty amazing. I'm scrolling through TV shows on my TV! With my hand! From the couch!

Hulu Plus has done a nice job at integrating themselves into Xbox Live. I like the fact that you can sort movies a variety of different ways, and there's a nice sense of discovery scrolling by genre or even by distributor. Hulu has built a fairly substantial library, so I found it difficult at times to quickly locate a show I had in mind, and I'm sure that the navigation and show search functionality will improve in future updates. 

 
 

If you often watch TV on-demand and have Kinect, but haven't tried Hulu Plus yet, go download it and try it out. Let me know what you think. Your $7.99 a month Hulu fee won't be wasted, and it's a novel way to impress your house guests. Plus, the gesture-based technology will only get better and you'll start to see it rolling out in other ways too.

 

Disclosure: I was provided a one-month Hulu Plus trial subscription to check out the service.

My Follow Friday Shout-out on The Talk on CBS

 

Wow! I found out that I'll be getting a shout out on The Talk tomorrow as part of their #FollowFriday feature. For those of you not on Twitter, I'm known there as Coast to Coast Mom, or @c2cmom and this is a weekly feature on The Talk where they recommend a couple of bloggers for others to get to know and follow on Twitter. I'm so honored! And excited! And grateful.

So check your local listings for The Talk on CBS tomorrow. Come for the scintillating talk, but stay for my shout-out. :-)

A big thank you to Role Mommy for thinking of me for the opportunity.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That!

On March 2nd, be sure to take a moment to silently wish Happy Birthday to Theodor Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as "Dr. Seuss." In honor of his birthday and all of his efforts to encourage and promote literacy, PBS is holding a two hour marathon event of The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!, including two brand new episodes: "Incredible Journey/Bamboozled," and "Teeny Weeny Adventure/I See Seeds."

Elmo Finds His Green Thumb

Yesterday we went to Madison Square Garden to see  Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Green Thumb . It was a delightful show, featuring colorful human-sized versions of your favorite Sesame Street characters (with the exception of Big Bird, who was his normal "big" size). The kiddo was mesmerized from the time the curtain went up on Elmo's show, and he got particularly excited when Count Von Count ("The Count" as we call him) walked on stage. The Count is currently the kiddo's favorite character...because, you know...he's a vampire.

The story follows Elmo as he figures out what to do with his sunflower Sunny, now that it has outgrown its pot. Accompanied by his friends, Elmo searches for a place to plant Sunny in Big Bird's garden. But instead of waiting for Sunny to grow, they decide to speed up the process a bit, with Abby Cadabby leading the charge and casting a spell on Sunny.

Jeopardy's Man vs. Machine: The IBM Watson Challenge

I think this is so cool. To give you some background, the kiddo and I watch Jeopardy every weeknight we're home. Every. Night. It's really one of very few shows on at 7 p.m. that are kid friendly, unless we go to the kid channels. 

The Kiddo's such a smartie, that I don't know why I'm surprised anymore when he knows an answer on Jeopardy, and he usually knows at least one every episode. (Yeah. At five. I know. <Sigh>) The last episode he knew that Mary Poppins was the correct answer on a Broadway category. He usually gets something correct in a travel, music and definitely animal category too. Even if he doesn't know the answer, it becomes a bit of a competition for him to see if I'm going to be right or not with whatever I blurt out. It's our thing.

So we think it's pretty cool that starting tonight, through February 16th, Jeopardy will be airing a historic Man vs. Machine: The IBM Challenge with Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and IBM's Watson computer. Most people know Ken from hearing about how he's the "most winningest" player in Jeopardy history, breaking the record for the most consecutive games played by winning. Brad has won the most amount of money playing Jeopardy between his original appearance and subsequent "Tournament of Champions" wins.

Watson is the computer, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, and developed by a team of IBM scientists trying to create a computer system that can answer questions in human natural language - including irony and riddles - quickly and accurately.

I'm excited to tune in and share the experience with the kiddo - maybe c2cdad will get home in time to join us for an extra special Valentine's Day dinner and Jeopardy viewing. :-) There's actually a book, Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything by Stephen Baker, that will be released on February 17th that will provide the background story and details of how The IBM Challenge came about and what was involved with the process.