Club Society Hills Teen Obama Crew Hit Presidential Inaugural Road Trip

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. /California Newswire/ — With an on-going mission to educate and enlighten young people on how best to become productive citizens of the world, Club Society Hills (http://www.clubsocietyhills.biz/) platform embraces etiquette, ethics, and education, gift wrapped in an entertaining animation format. This format is hugely popular among kids - not only here in the United States, but also in many major global markets around the world; among them: India, Mexico, Spain, Canada, Germany, Africa, Great Britain, and Asia. Offering free membership, their youth power exceeds 1.5 million users.

Keeping with their “living the dream” theme, Club Society Hills Teen Obama crew will cover the 2009 Presidential Inauguration from a kid’s perspective. With special features, photos and in-depth interviews, giving their global audience and members a front row seat and back stage look at a historical moment in time. The inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America President elect Barack Obama.

Club Society Hills Teen Obama will also report back on BET and MTV Inauguration ceremonies taking place in Washington D.C. during Inauguration week January 18 - 24, 2009.

Club Society Hills global interactive youth club creators Blackmon Entertainment Media are also producers of the Black University Radio Network (BURN) Gospel Insider, and Zea’ Zoo and the Land of Boo “An Urban Fairy Tale” Animation Film now in Production.

For additional info contact Blackmon Entertainment / Club Society Hills at (818) 349-0364 and visit: http://www.clubsocietyhills.biz/ and http://www.landofboo.com/ for more information.

Club Society Hills, a top web site for kids, is celebrating their 3rd Anniversary.

Club Society Hills Teen Obama Crew will Cover the 2009 Presidential Inauguration from a Kid’s Perspective

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — With an on-going mission to educate and enlighten young people on how best to become productive citizens of the world, Club Society Hills platform embraces etiquette, ethics, and education gift wrapped in an entertaining animation format. This format is hugely popular among kids - not only here in the United States, but also in many major global markets around the world; among them: India, Mexico, Spain, Canada, Germany, Africa, Great Britain, and Asia. Offering free membership, their youth power exceeds 1.5 million users.

Keeping with their “living the dream” theme, Club Society Hills Teen Obama crew will cover the 2009 Presidential Inauguration from a kid’s perspective. With special features, photos and in-depth interviews, giving their global audience and members a front row seat and back stage look at a historical moment in time. The inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America President elect Barack Obama.

Club Society Hills Teen Obama will also report back on BET and MTV Inauguration ceremonies taking place in Washington D.C. during Inauguration week January 18 - 24, 2009.

Club Society Hills global interactive youth club creators Blackmon Entertainment Media are also producers of the Black University Radio Network (BURN) Gospel Insider, and Zea’ Zoo and the Land of Boo “An Urban Fairy Tale” Animation Film now in Production.

For additional info contact Blackmon Entertainment / Club Society Hills at (818) 349-0364 and visit: www.clubsocietyhills.biz and www.landofboo.com for more information.

Club Society Hills, a top web site for kids, is celebrating their 3rd Anniversary.

Send2Press(R) is the originating wire service for this story, Copr. 2009.

Zea Zoo Animation Film Ministers to Children of Katrina and the World

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Family Friendly Films, LLC announces that the popular e-book, “Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo: An Urban Fairy Tale,” has entered into movie production stage after making its presence known online. Based on a popular children’s poem, “Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo” was so successful as an e-book (www.clubsocietyhills.biz) that it is now being made into a computer-generated illustration (CGI) short animated movie.

Targeting the vastly under-served urban youth/family markets, “Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo” has nurtured an international, online audience that has created branding as a positive youth/family-friendly favorite.

“The film is refreshingly new and much anticipated in the animation film industry,” P.D. Blackmon of Family Films, said.

Blackmon has recently returned to study at the UCLA Film School after 20+ years in the media industry as a writer/director and producer.

Post-production VIP screenings of the film are being sponsored by Women in Films (Beverly Hills) and Universal Studios. Equity partnership and distribution deals are currently being shopped.

CGI animation has eclipsed other animation forms and has emerged as one of the most successful film-art forms. Through state-of-the art CGI animation, coupled with traditional artistry, Family Friendly Films has achieved a new level of storytelling that still pays homage to Walt Disney and other great past animators.

The film’s characters are reality and fantasy based, giving the animation studio extreme longitude to tell a story while exploring creative boundaries.

At the center of the story is a young, disenchanted boy from Bay Village, a town near the Gulf Coast of Mexico. He gets caught in Hurricane Katrina, nearly drowns, and awakens in the “Land of Boo,” a magical wonderland under the sea. While there, he befriends unique characters who help him to return home to save his family and friends.

The boy’s efforts are fraught with challenge and he must continue to stay one step ahead of King Nino, Queen Elvia and their evil followers the “SeaWeeds” who seek revenge and, ultimately, his death.

The film is being produced by Family Friendly Films, LLC, Family Film Animations Studio and Blackmon Entertainment.

To learn more, visit: www.landofboo.com or www.zeazooandthelandofboo.com.

Family Friendly Visits Zea Zoo

Family Friendly Films has started production on an CG-animated short based on the popular children’s poem and e-book Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo. Titled Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo: An Urban Fairy Tale, the film will target the urban youth/family market, which the company feels is vastly under-served. The property has already built an international online audience at www.clubsocietyhills.biz, where the e-book and other materials can be found.

The story revolves around a young, disenchanted boy from Bay Village, a town near the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Caught in Hurricane Katrina, he nearly drowns and awakens in the Land of Boo, a magical wonderland under the sea. There, he befriends unique characters who help him to return home to save his family and friends, all the while staying one step ahead of King Nino, Queen Elvia and their evil followers, the "SeaWeeds."

Zea Zoo is being produced by Family Friendly Films LLC, Family Film Animations Studio and Blackmon Ent. Production on is being spearheaded by P.D. Blackmon of Family Films, who recently returned to study at the UCLA Film School after working as a writer and director in the media industry for more than 20 years. Post-production VIP screenings of the film are being sponsored by Women in Films, based in Beverly Hills, and Universal Studios. Equity partnership and distribution deals are currently being sought. For more information, go to www.landofboo.com or www.zeazooandthelandofboo.com.

Popular Children's Eco Fairy Tale eBook Being Made Into CGI Animated Film

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Family Friendly Films, LLC announces that the popular e-book, "Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo: An Urban Fairy Tale," has entered into movie production stage after making its presence known online. Based on a popular children's poem, "Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo" was so successful as an e-book (www.clubsocietyhills.biz) that it is now being made into a computer-generated illustration (CGI) short animated movie.

Targeting the vastly under-served urban youth/family markets, "Zea Zoo and the Land of Boo" has nurtured an international, online audience that has created branding as a positive youth/family-friendly favorite.

"The film is refreshingly new and much anticipated in the animation film industry," P.D. Blackmon of Family Films, said.

Blackmon has recently returned to study at the UCLA Film School after 20+ years in the media industry as a writer/director and producer.

Post-production VIP screenings of the film are being sponsored by Women in Films (Beverly Hills) and Universal Studios. Equity partnership and distribution deals are currently being shopped.

CGI animation has eclipsed other animation forms and has emerged as one of the most successful film-art forms. Through state-of-the art CGI animation, coupled with traditional artistry, Family Friendly Films has achieved a new level of storytelling that still pays homage to Walt Disney and other great past animators.

The film's characters are reality and fantasy based, giving the animation studio extreme longitude to tell a story while exploring creative boundaries.

At the center of the story is a young, disenchanted boy from Bay Village, a town near the Gulf Coast of Mexico. He gets caught in Hurricane Katrina, nearly drowns, and awakens in the "Land of Boo," a magical wonderland under the sea. While there, he befriends unique characters who help him to return home to save his family and friends.

The boy's efforts are fraught with challenge and he must continue to stay one step ahead of King Nino, Queen Elvia and their evil followers the "SeaWeeds" who seek revenge and, ultimately, his death.

The film is being produced by Family Friendly Films, LLC, Family Film Animations Studio and Blackmon Entertainment.

To learn more, visit: http://www.landofboo.com or http://www.zeazooandthelandofboo.com.

National Youth Club Targets 'Tweens' Club Society Hills, Multi-Cultural, Web Site, Animated Cast and Crew;
Just for Kids Ages 9-14

New Kids/Teen Club, and animated interactive Web-Site and Newsletter. www.clubsocietyhills.biz. Get the "411" on whats going on in the world of entertainment and on todays social scene. Our mission, is to create positive programming for kids. Etiquette, Ethics, Education and Entertainment. An alternative to MTV. Commercial free.

Woodland Hills CA (PRWEB) -- Introducing an animated, world where nationality, plays a minor role and friendship, honesty, ethics and loyality rule. Club Society Hills, targeting,(Kids/Teens, ages 9-14) gets high marks.

A+ Pictured, super-star multi Grammy Award winner, Alicia Keys. Songs in the key of life.

Blackmon Entertainment Media, Producers of Gospel Insider, Hollywood Gospel Insider Music Awards, Black University Radio Network, (BURN)Entertainment 101 and Sports Vybe, continues to dazzel, with their creative "family friendly" media programs. The new interactive web site, www.clubsocietyhills.biz and Society Hills "411" Newsletter, boast an educational, entertainment, destination, featuring, E-Books, Urban Fairytales, Health & Beauty tips, Awards Shows, Entertainment News, Games, Downloads, Prizes and a local Los Angeles chapter, hosted at the (New Academy of Canoga).

Also introducing the Club Society Hills Crew, a multi cultural animated cast, ranging in ages 4-14. Log onto www.clubsocietyhills.biz, and meet Jessica Kennedy Monroe, Paula Dominique Blue, Tiffany Savanna St James, Lola Diana Lopez, Praba Mercedes, Mika "Mae Mae" Duboi, Brandon Lopez, Isaiah Blue, Asia Taylor Lee and their Poodle Pups, Destiny and Paris. Your invited. Club Society Hills will be hosting, a "Valentines" Family Skate Party. "Free" Society Hills "411" Newsletter. Hurry offer limited.

It's cooler than ever to be a tween

The prepubescent children of days gone by have given way to a cooler kid — the tween — who aspires to teenhood but is not quite there yet. Tweens are in-between — generally the 8-to-12 set. The U.S. Census estimates that in 2009, tweens are about 20 million strong and projected to hit almost 23 million by 2020. Among them now are Malia Obama, at 10 already a tween, and sister Sasha, who turns 8 this year. With the Obama daughters in the White House, the nation's attention will focus even more on this emerging group — and the new "first tweens" will likely be high-profile representatives of their generation.

"My daughter is really excited that there's a girl in the White House the same age she is," says Courtney Pineau, 31, of Bellingham, Wash., mother of fifth-grader Sophia, age 10.Retailers know tweens are a hot market for clothes, music and entertainment. But now psychologists and behavioral researchers are beginning to study tweens, too. They say tweens are a complicated lot, still forming their personalities, and are torn between family and BFFs, between fitting in and learning how to be an individual.

MARKETING

Tweens have "their own sense of fashion in a way we didn't have before and their own parts of the popular culture targeted toward them," says child and adolescent psychologist Dave Verhaagen of Charlotte. How will this shape their personalities? "Time will tell. We don't know." Research has shown that middle school is where some troubles, particularly academic, first appear. Also, a 2007 review of surveys in the journal Prevention Science found that the percentage of children who use alcohol doubles between grades four and six; the largest jump comes between fifth and sixth grades.

BETTER LIFE

"They're kids for a shorter period of time," adds psychologist Frank Gaskill, who also works with tweens in Charlotte. "More is expected of them academically, responsibility-wise." Many parents, including Beth Harpaz, 48, of Brooklyn, are well aware of this short-lived time. Her older son is 16 and a high school junior; her younger son is 11 and in fifth grade. "I'm trying really hard to save his childhood. I want him to enjoy little-boy things and don't want him to feel that he has to put on that big hoodie and wear the $100 sneakers and have that iPod in his ear listening to what somebody has told him is cool music," says Harpaz, author of 13 is the New 18.

Gender differences

Boys haven't been the main target of marketers hawking all things tween, from clothes and makeup to TV shows and music. But Disney wants to change that with its launch Feb. 13 of Disney XD, a "boy-focused" cable brand that includes TV and a website with themes of adventure, accomplishment, gaming, music and sports. Until now, Disney has been "a tween-girl machine," Verhaagen says. "It may be that teen idols and celebrities are more inherently appealing to girls because it's all about personality and music and relational things that girls are more interested in. Boys at that age are more interested in sports and adventure and are not as easily marketed to by personalities and pop stars."

The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon are favorites, according to an online survey this summer for the 2008-09 GfK Roper Youth Report. The data, released to USA TODAY, found that of 500 tweens ages 8 to 12 asked about activities within the past week, 82% had watched Nickelodeon and 69% had watched Disney; 92% said they had played outside. Verhaagen, father of two girls, 11 and 13, says tweens are "immersed in consumer culture" and seek connections and identity through social networking and shared entertainment experiences, but they're still "aligned with their parents."

New data from in-person interviews in December by Youth Trends, a marketing services company based in Ramsey, N.J., found 85% of the 1,223 respondents ages 8-12 agreed that "my family is the most important part of my life" and 70% said "I consider my Mom and/or Dad to be one of my best friends." Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer, a parenting expert in London and author of Talking to Tweens, says the tween years are when young people begin to realize the wider world, and to see themselves as separate from their families. That's why the peer group is so crucial, she says.

Jade Jacobs, 12, of North Potomac, Md., is active in soccer, basketball, gymnastics and two cheerleading teams. "The main reason I do most of my sports is to hang out with my friends and to get exercise," she says. She also loves to shop with friends. "It's not always about buy, buy, buy," she says. But, "if we have a little money, we'll find a cute accessory." Her mother, Christina Jacobs, 43, says the idea of "mean girls" is part of the tween years, which is one reason girls worry about clothes. "Girls are looking at each other and seeing who is wearing what. They're harder on each other," she says. "Girls are looking at each other at 9 and 10, and boys are in La-La land."

Music is cool

Eleven-year-old Campbell Shelhoss, a fifth grader in Towson, Md., says he's not in a hurry to be a teenager, even though he says he has outgrown some childhood pastimes. "I feel like Pokémon is a little young," he says, and he puts cartoon toys and handheld video games in the same category. He plays baseball and golf. He wanted a cellphone "for a few weeks" and then decided it wasn't that important to him. Almost two-thirds (63%) of kids 8 to 12 do not have a cellphone, the Youth Trends study finds. It also finds that tweens spend 12.1 hours a week watching TV and 7.3 hours online.

The Roper report also asked tweens to rate 17 items as "cool or not cool." Music was at the top of the cool list, followed by going to the movies. "Being smart" ranked third — tied with video games — followed by electronics, sports, fashion and protecting the environment.

The 'first tweens'

"Right now, their friends and their status is everything to them," says Marissa Aranki, 41, of Fullerton, Calif. She is a fifth-grade teacher and has two daughters, 18 and 12. "It's universal for the age, but they show it in different ways. For boys, the whole friendship thing is through technology and through sports," she says. "Girls like to talk, either about other girls or about boys. A lot of the girls are really boy-crazy. And some of the boys are not really girl-crazy yet. They're really out of the loop in that case. They've got their little guy friends and they're trying to be athletic, and that's what they care about."

Tweens are part of the larger generational group sometimes called millennials or Generation Y. Those in their late teens through mid-20s are "first-wave" millennials because they're the ones who set the trends that this later wave (born between the early 1990s and about 2003 or 2004) continues to follow, suggests historian and demographer Neil Howe, co-author of several books on the generations. Verhaagen, author of Parenting the Millennial Generation, says older and younger millennials share certain traits, such as comfort with technology and diversity, and being family-oriented.

He believes the struggling economy also will leave an imprint on both groups of millennials; the younger ones could become less materialistic and consumer-driven. Howe says tweens are even more interested in being protected and sheltered than their older millennial siblings; he says this is because the parents of older millennials tend to be Baby Boomers while parents of the younger group are often part of Generation X, in their 30s to mid-40s.

"These Xers are concerned about such things as safety and protection," he says. "They're not as worried as Boomers were about making their children paragons of perfection. Xers care less about that and try to do less. They're more pragmatic." Howe counts Barack and Michelle Obama as Gen Xers, those born between 1961 and 1981. But many view the president and first lady as post-Boomers who are part of "Generation Jones," a term coined by cultural historian Jonathan Pontell for people born between 1954 and 1965.

Either way, it may be tough for the Obama girls to stay out of the spotlight, suggests Denise Restauri, founder of a research and consulting firm called AK Tweens and the tween social networking site AllyKatzz.com. "They're in nirvana," she says. "Right now, (Malia and Sasha) are the most popular girls in school. It doesn't get much better than that when you're a tween."