The Rusty Bucket Kids - a new family TV show filmed locally in NC

There's a new kids television show which you may not have yet heard about called "The Rusty Bucket Kids." Being dubbed as an "edutainment" series, it's filmed entirely in the Apex, North Carolina area and stars exclusively local and regional talent. In a "Back to the Future" meets "The History Channel" theme, the gist of the show is that two young siblings learn from their grandfather that they can travel back in time via an old steam train, so they begin to visit famous historical figures as teenagers before they became famous. Set in the small southern town of "Peak City," Roxanna and JohnColeman "Peakssen" (played by real-life siblings, Roxanna and JohnColeman Demers) travel on adventures that are both entertaining and historically accurate, not to mention safe for the whole family to watch.

I've been enlisted to be a part of the creation of this series working on staff as the Graphic Designer, creating posters, CD and DVD artwork, and a myriad of other tasks. It's definitely stretched my design skills to new boundaries, as I am originally a web designer and video producer by trade.

The first show, "Lincoln, Journey to 16," premiered on April 17, 2010 in three markets across North Carolina: Raleigh, Wilmington and Charlotte. We did a big launch for the Raleigh market station, WRAL, in conjunction with the CoolKidz Expo taking place that weekend at the new Raleigh Convention Center, but only a soft launch for the other two markets.

However, this weekend is the big push for Wilmington, NC, as the CBS affiliate, WILM, is re-broadcasting "Lincoln, Journey to 16" on Saturday, May 22 at 12:00 pm (noon). If you're in the Wilmington/Cape Fear area and can pick up WILM, I encourage you to set your DVR/VCR for the show this weekend! (There will be a re-airing of the show in Charlotte on WJZY at on noon on Saturday, July 10.) I have been asked several times about whether the show will re-air anytime soon in the Raleigh area, but I do not yet have an answer about that. Eventually we hope it will be airing nationwide on a regular basis!

This Saturday (5/22), from 4:00-6:00 pm, following the WILM broadcast of "Lincoln...", there will be a massive launch party at the Golden Corral in Monkey Junction (map) with live music by The Rusty Bucket Band, as well as appearances by many of the cast members and directors. Actress Irene Santiago, who plays the infamous "Carlina" in the show, lives in the Wilmington area and has appeared in "High School Musical," "Hounded," "One Tree Hill," and "Touched by an Angel." Sunny 104.5 FM will be on site at the restaurant doing a live remote as well, so it should be quite an event. If you live close enough, or just want to make the drive down to Wilmington, please come join us for the event!

If you live in the Raleigh area, be sure to visit the original location for the show's inspiration - The Rusty Bucket Store on Salem Street in historic downtown Apex. They have "Songs From and Inspired by The Rusty Bucket Kids" on CD as well as "The Rusty Bucket Kids: Lincoln, Journey to 16" on DVD available for sale.

Read more about the show at the (soon-to-be-redesigned) official website: http://www.rustybucketkids.com or just ask Google about it.

Jon &/OR Kate Plus 8: Power of Prayer

I have wanted to blog about Jon & Kate Gosselin for several months now, as their recent marital struggles just break my heart. Just before the airing of their "announcement" episode, I stumbled upon a blog called "Jon & Kate Prayers" written by Rick Garner. This heartfelt blog spoke exactly the words I had been trying to find myself, calling us to pray for the Gosselin 10 rather than spew words of hatred, bitterness, jealousy or slander against them. I honestly don't understand why so many people hate them with such a vendetta as if Kate had personally slapped them herself. I am so incredibly far from perfect myself that if people were to watch my life 24/7, I wonder if they would hate me too? It's a scary thought. Judge not lest ye be judged...

I will say that I met Kate in person in late April 2009 at a local book signing and was disheartened to see the sadness in her eyes. Little did I know what she was going through at home during that month (this being just a few weeks before the "announcement" episode aired). She seemed a combination of very stressed and very sad. She was not the chipper & happy individual that we had all watched in earlier seasons. I could very much tell that she would rather not be there that day, but felt the commitment to her contractual obligation. On the spur of the moment I tried to think of something to say to her when I walked up to get my book signed during the Meet & Greet. I asked, "Are you having a good day?" to which she looked up at me surprised that someone had broken the silence of the room. She hesitated for a split second and then gave a forced cheerful answer, "Um yes!" (What other answer can anyone expect from a question like that in such a situation?) Five weeks later, as I learned more about all of their ongoing family trials, I kicked myself pretty hard for not saying something more significant such as, "I'm praying for you and your family" (which I already was).

Jon & Kate have professed in the past that they are Christians. The show featured them going to church on one episode and their old house was decorated with scripture verses on handwritten index cards posted around the kitchen. According to their own testament, just about the only time they left the house when the sextuplets were infants was once a week to drive an hour to church. Jon's odd behavior as of late is really not that different from many other Christians I know... I can tell you about the sins of a lot of people I know. I can't explain them or justify or condone them, but I can pray for those people. And that's where the Jon & Kate Prayers: Power of Prayer blog entry comes in... I urge you to click on the link below to read exactly what I wanted to say myself. In fact I wished I could just copy this guy's content and cite it here, but I'll avoid the plagiarism and let you read it on his site.

Jon and Kate Prayers: Power of Prayer

The prayer blog has also garnered international attention as well... a writer for the Vancouver Sun wrote an article about Rick Garner's site entitled, "Jon & Kate should go on a date. With God."

Jason from Franklin, TN is auditioning for the TONTINE Reality Show

My friend Jason Madden, who was the youth pastor at New River Fellowship in Franklin, TN for a while when I lived there, recently sent me a link to his video on YouTube and explained that he's been chosen to audition for a new reality TV show called "TONTINE." TONTINE is described as "the biggest prize in Reality TV history"... $10 MILLION DOLLARS. To hear Jason's humorous story, I encourage you to watch the video above and if you have a YouTube account (or wouldn't mind quickly signing up for one), vote for him by adding this video to your favorites (click the red heart next to SAVE), "Add to your Playlists", and/or leave a comment.

The person with the highest views/rating/favorites/and comments will win $10,000 and be on the show. Then that person and 14 more contestants will spend 100 days in the TONTINE Challenge which spans all 7 continents! Jason is contestant #100303.

Read more about TONTINE here: http://www.jointhetontine.com/

Math Book Helps Girls Embrace Their Inner Mathematician

Anybody in their late twenties or older will remember the much daydreamed-about "Winnie Cooper" from the hit TV Series, "The Wonder Years." Personally I was more obsessed with Fred Savage who played the handsome young Kevin Arnold (he was only a year older than I was when the series premiered), but yet each week I would lay on my stomach in front of the TV, giddy to see what would happen between the two adolescent "on again, off again" lovebirds.

Well apparently that on-set tutoring that the young actors received during their teenage years of filming the show really paid off for Danica McKellar who played Winnie. She later graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in mathematics among other achievements, and has now written a magazine-style math book for teenage girls entitled, "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail."

I don't much like the idea of the horoscopes inside, but otherwise I know this will be a book that my Math-major husband will someday want to buy for our kids (at least our daughters)! Hopefully he'll wait past kindergarten before making them start reading it...

Check out the article about Danica's book here:
http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/08/winniecooper_QA?currentPage=all