Help fund Reading Rainbow!

If you're reading this, odds are that you're familiar with the show Reading Rainbow, which ran on television from 1983 to 2006. It was a staple of my childhood and was shown in many of the classes I had while I was very young. Even if you didn't personally watch it yourself as a child, you likely heard about it from someone else that watched it as a child. LeVar Burton was a huge role model for a lot of us, as he was a smart, charismatic, handsome black man that liked books and just so happened to also be on a very popular television show (Star Trek: The Next Generation). He showed us that it was OK to read and that it can be incredibly fun. I was fairly sad when it was cancelled in 2006, despite it still being fairly popular and it still being used in various classrooms.

So when I discovered that there was a Kickstarter campaign to launch Reading Rainbow as an online app, I had to donate. I've never donated to Kickstarters before and I'm happy to say that this was my first. What's so amazing about this campaign is that they hit the million dollar goal in less than a day.

So I'm coming back on here to spread the news about this. I figure that word of mouth could help get Burton a few more donations at the very least and it'd be nice if they hit their stretch goal and then some.

Basic gist of the Kickstarter: There's a Reading Rainbow app and the Kickstarter campaign will help get the app to more people. The app will allow children to access hundreds of books as well as video field trips (sort of like some of what you'll see on YouTube, but presumably far higher production values and less chance of seeing someone photobomb the camera). Classrooms will be able to use the app and the more people who donate, the more classrooms that will be able to access it for free (presumably permanently free). Lots of schools don't have the money to pay for subscriptions as stuff like that adds up fairly quickly. They might be able to afford a computer, but not monthly subscriptions. I'm going to presume that the free versions will be given to lower income classrooms first and then up the scale for the more well funded schools. The first emphasis of the Kickstarter kind of reflects the classroom emphasis, as nowadays it's somewhat a given that a school will have a computer somewhere, if not in each classroom.


Further reading:

• Bring Reading Rainbow Back for Every Child, Everywhere (Kickstarter page)

Help an indie horror movie out?

I have to admit that I love horror movies. I eat 'em up like candy, or at least I would if my active imagination didn't wreak havoc on me if I watch them before I go to bed.

In any case, I found the following horror film on Kickstarter. It's called "Death Walks" and the director, Spencer Hawken, is trying to get the funding to send the movie out to various film festivals. It's already made and ready to rock- it just needs a little help getting there.

I figured I'd put this out there for any of you guys that use Kickstarter and could put some funding forth.

Clicking on the photo should take you to the Kickstarter page. If you're curious, here's the film's plot synopsis:

One night a shopping centre is attacked by a sinister force, those inside fight to survive while an outside world parties. Nothing is quite what it seems, nothing is straightforward, relationships are forged, trust is broken, and something truly evil and unexpected takes an upper hand. The ultimate battle of good and evil has begun... Death Walks.

Sounds pretty cool, right?