 | Ypulse Daily Update 06.15.09
Directory and more at Ypulse.com | |  | Quick Links Ypulse Essentials: The End of 'Hannah Montana', 'Discover The Forest', Comedy Central Viewers Go Gray Posted by meredith  'Zeke and Luther' on Disney XD (Disney's latest play for the boys, the live-action adventures of two aspiring pro skaters, debuted this weekend. Plus, Cartoon Network's risky move away from animation. And, prepare your tweens, "Hannah Montana" is set to end in 2010. Thanks Eric!) (Houston Chronicle) (Broadcasting & Cable) (Pop Crunch)
- Reporting without a net (a great piece from the New York Times, reg. required, on the context that led to Current TV's Laura Ling and Euna Lee's detainment in North Korea...and the new generation of journalists [who are also asked to be producers and editors] they represent)
- MTV tunes in to teens' wavelength (by giving up on creating a separate branded social network in favor of merging with the mainstream on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter for Alexa Chung's new TRL-replacement show. Plus the BBC expands an ongoing social learning initiative with an interactive online studio) (New York Times, reg. required) (The Guardian)
- Six Flags declares bankruptcy (in an effort to deal with the billions of dollars of debt. So far, execs say, there's no plans to close parks. Also, Disney gets in on the NBA Finals action) (Variety) (Los Angeles Times)
- Discover the Forest (a multi-platform campaign from the US Forest Service and the national Ad Council encouraging tweens to get up close and personal with their environment. And, in case you missed it, President Obama signed legislation with historic curbs on the tobacco industry in an effort to decrease smoking among young people) (Reuters)
- Sex. Really. (a site for twentysomethings sponsored by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy with a focus on relationships, love, sex, contraception, pregnancy, and related issues)
- Nancy Drew joins the Beacon Street Girls (with video games, joint contests and more on the BSG site. Also, more concerns over the princess industry and how it affects young girls' egos) (WSJ)
- 'Zero' intolerance (A Vogue editor in the UK takes a stand against "size-zero" models and rising teenage anorexia in a strongly worded letter to all of the largest fashion houses in Europe and America) (Times Online)
- 'The Graying of Comedy Central' (what the average age of ''The Daily Show'' viewers rising by five years means in advertising terms) (Forbes)
- Rock Band gets a little bit country (with artists like Willie Nelson and Miranda Lambert on the set list for Rock Band Country Track Pack)
P.S. The video from our Totally Wired Youth Entrepreneur panel from the Ypulse Mashup is now live!
Posted in: Ypulse Essentials Heroes Wanted...By Hollywood Posted by anastasia  Last week I stumbled across this Economist article on Stan Lee and how he is attempting to address the challenge of running out of well known characters to make the leap from comic book to the big screen (i.e. the superhero blockbuster). The story points out an obvious hitch in Lee's plan to generate new ideas from Purveyors of Wonder (POW!), a firm he created to generate storylines for films. From the article:
Mr Lee's most celebrated creations appeared at a time when comic books were widely read. The heroes were honed over many years by other writers and artists. As a result a great many people of diverse ages are familiar with them and will happily spend $10 to sit in a cool cinema and renew their acquaintance. Blockbuster audiences are built not of enthusiastic fans—there are never enough—but of people who are vaguely aware of a character or a story and want to see what a studio does with it.
These days it is extremely difficult to propel new characters or stories into broad public consciousness, and therefore hard to mobilize a mass audience for films based on them...
I "tweeted" this story and asked where people thought new characters would come from and got a few interesting responses.
Manga: While manga has proven to be incredibly popular with American teens and tweens, I don't think it has completely gone mainstream yet or has the mass appeal of comic book heroes of yore. Even the Death Note films (wildly popular in Japan) never really crossed over to American audiences (mostly dubbed versions had limited releases here).
Video games: A couple of folks mentioned video game heroes, like Super Mario, Zelda and Lara Croft. The beauty of comic books is that you have such a rich backstory (or stories) to choose from -- my Twitter friend reminded me that these, too can be written or rewritten in compelling ways, i.e. J.J. Abrams' reimagining of "Star Trek."
Film characters or book characters: Captain Jack Sparrow was mentioned as having been elevated to hero status. And it's hard not to argue that Harry Potter or even Edward from the Twilight series haven't become "heroes" in a way that has crossed over to both young and old alike. Even the cast of NBC's "Heroes" could see their own movie spin-off at some point.
Lee hopes to test more new heroes on different platforms, like mobile, as well:
Next month another creation of Mr Lee's will be unveiled at Comic-con, a huge San Diego convention that has become an important marketing platform for films. "Time Jumper", an animated comic about a boy who can travel in time using his mobile phone, will be released in stages on the internet and mobile phones, free of charge. This is a relatively cheap way of testing an audience's response to a new character. If it is hard to ram a new tale into public consciousness, it might just be possible to sneak it in.
What do you think? Can you "sneak in" a new hero? How important is a hero's story as a foundation or can you just take richly drawn characters and create new stories? Are there other heroes you have seen embraced by this generation?
For more coverage of YA books and publishing, check out the Ypulse Books Channel sponsored by The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (LB Teens).Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Books | Gaming | Manga and Visual Storyteling Twitter's Backchannel: Next Best Thing To A Backstage Pass? Posted by meredith  During the Ypulse Mashup I lost count of how many times attendees asked whether teens and/or Millennials were on Twitter, but I can recall the best answer that I heard: Lauren Puglia of the digital think tank Undercurrent basically told us yes and no -- right now it still comes down to psychographics.
Meaning for teens and Gen Y-ers that run with a techie crowd, are part of a fanbase with a large Twitter presence, or just happen to be an Angeleno really into Korean BBQ, Twitter is the place to be (on the flip side, if you don't fit any of those descriptions, it's pretty much the middle of nowhere.) Anastasia made a similar point in an earlier post, specifically with regards to music fans who had a stake in following their favorite artists to learn the latest details of an upcoming tour, album, .etc. Both arguments rang true to me, and how I personally use Twitter on a daily basis.
That said, here is one non-daily aspect I don't think we've really touched on yet - following an event's backchannel as a real-time program with constant updates and commentary. This past weekend I attended a four-day long music festival featuring a bunch of bands playing at different venues all over the neighborhood (about a five-mile radius give or take). It was the first time the organizers had put on the event, and there were more than a few hiccups in the form of last minute schedule changes, cancellations and so on and so forth. Enter the trusty backchannel and its steady stream of helpful hints enabling concertgoers in the know to avoid the hassle of showing up at a show that was already full, or worse, not happening at all. Not to mention the added perks of daily recommendations and heads up for last minute surprise shows provided by the magazine behind the festival.
Early adopters may have already caught on to this benefit of Twitter way back at last year's SXSW Music Festival, but with a growing number of Millennials still snatching up smartphones and festival season just coming into full swing, I have a feeling that the word still has a way to spread. And I'm sure fans and concert promoters alike will be more than happy to oblige.
For more coverage of the latest trends and developments in mobile technology for youth, check out the Ypulse Mobile Channel.
Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Books | Gaming | Manga and Visual Storyteling | Mobile | Music
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