Impromp2, The Community Blog

Visit to Knaus Berry Farm

A short visit to the Knaus Berry Farm in Homestead, Florida, courtesy of uVu..

uVu's Gone to the Dogs

A couple of holiday videos for our four-legged friends, courtesy of uVu.

Holiday Toy Drive For Pets

MDC In Focus- Veterinary Technology

Santa and Friends Music Video

CHAIRMAN MARTIN TO VISIT MIAMI, FLORIDA FOR DTV OUTREACH

Visit is Part of Nationwide Tour Focusing on Markets with High Levels
of Over-the-Air Television Viewers

Washington, DC – FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin today announced he will visit Miami, Florida on January 3, 2009.  The visit is part of an extensive nationwide initiative the Commission has launched to increase awareness about the upcoming transition.

WHO:     FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin
WHAT:    Town Hall on the DTV Transition
WHEN:    Saturday, January 3, 2009, 10:30 AM
WHERE:    Best Buy® Store – Dadeland (#557)
                8450 S Dixie Hwy Dadeland Station Miami, FL 33143

The FCC identified target television markets for specific DTV outreach, including all those markets in which more than 100,000 households or at least 15% of the households rely solely on over-the-air signals for television reception.  The five FCC Commissioners and senior Commission staff will visit these and other markets to raise awareness and educate consumers in the days leading up to the DTV transition on February 17, 2009.  Chairman Martin has also planned Town Hall meetings in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana on January 5, 2009, and Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus, Ohio on January 6, 2009.  

Reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request.  Include a description of the accommodation you will need with as much detail as possible.  Also include a way we can contact you if we need more information.  Please provide as much advanced notice as possible; last minute requests will be accepted, but may be impossible to fill.  Send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).

HEY YOU GUUUUUYYYYS!

TV’s Iconic Series The Electric Company Delivers a Jolt of Literacy,
and Charges a New Generation

Sesame Workshop’s New Weekly Series Premieres on WPBT2's KidVision with a Special Two Hour Sneak Peek Marathon on
Monday, January 19th

Celebrities Plugged Into The Electric Company Include Wyclef Jean, Kyle Massey, Jimmy Fallon, Ne-Yo, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tiki Barber.   Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, powers up this January with a new version of one of television’s most beloved children’s series, The Electric Company. The new series, designed to combat the literacy crisis America’s second graders are facing, has been re-energized with 35 half-hour episodes for today’s media-driven generation with a truly interactive experience.

The Electric Company television show is brought to life with a 15 minute narrative storyline that is interspersed with segments that include curricular clusters of music videos, sketch comedy, animation and short films.
The cast of characters of The Electric Company is a group of do-gooders who keep the neighborhood safe with their literacy superpowers and solve problems often created by a group of troublemakers called “The Pranksters.” Stationed from their home base, The Electric Diner, the team consists of four core cast members.
Season one of the new The Electric Company will feature comedy segments with Academy Award winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg, kid comedian and actor, Kyle Massey, former NFL superstar and Today Show correspondent Tiki Barber, rapper Common and 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer; music videos with Grammy Award winning musician Wyclef Jean and hip-hop superstar Sean Kingston; and original songs from singer/songwriter Ne-Yo, Saturday Night Live’s Jimmy Fallon and R&B star Mario.

Spending the New Year in the Keys?

There is always a lot going on in Key West and at the height of the "season" here are a couple of things to consider as worthwhile ways to kick off 2009.  The Studios of Key West continue their artist-in-residence program with an interesting twist for all budding art collectors and the Tuesdays with Art series at the Tropic Cinema kicks off 2009 with bang (and a mighty crash)

Steve Keene Paints Up a Tropical Storm 

(and he's got a new colorful picture for you)

Prolific Brooklyn-based painter Steve Keene, who is approaching his 300,000th work of art, is the latest artist-in-residence at The Studios of Key West. 

The Studios of Key West continues to develop its artist-in-residence program, and is proud to be hosting painter Steve Keene to ring in the New Year. The Brooklyn-based artist has set up a temporary studio in the newly renovated ground floor space at Old City Hall, which provides a massive interior and flood of light for Keene's all-day painting sessions. 

"I think it's just amazing watching him progress from rough cut wooden panels, to basic colors and shapes, to hundreds of refined scenes inspired by the island," says Diane Silvia, director of Historic Florida Keys Foundation, whose office is located on the floor above. 

Keene began his creative career in the 1990s in Charlottesville, Virginia, after graduating from Yale University's fine arts program. The artist has since completed over 250,000 original works of art, done in a style that the New York Times called "somewhere between primitivism and mid-20th century representational art." Others have labelled his prolific and energetic style a new form of "conceptual folk art," a designation that Keene is happy to agree with. 

Digital TV Converter Coupons Coveted

In less than two months, television broadcasters will go all-digital, permanently shutting off the traditional analog signals they've relied on for more than half a century. Government officials say that means TV watchers have just two days to order coupons for the digital converter boxes they'll need to keep watching those antennaed sets.

About 14 million U.S. households watch television over an analog signal. Each will need to install a converter box -- a small set-top device that converts digital broadcasts back into analog so older TVs can still get a picture.

Orders for the boxes hit record highs over the weekend, rising 30 percent over the previous weekend. Now some in Congress are worried that the increased demand could lead to delays in getting the coupons to consumers.

Read the enitre story from the Washington Post here

Masterpiece Classic

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Violated by one man, forsaken by another, Tess Durbeyfield is the magnificent and spirited heroine of Thomas Hardy's heartbreaking novel. Set in England's West Country in the late 1800s, the two part miniseries stars Gemma Arterton (James Bond: Quantum of Solace ) as Tess, joined by Hans Matheson (Dr. Zhivago ) as her seducer, Alec, and Eddie Redmayne (Elizabeth: The Golden Age ) as Angel, the idealistic and self-deserving man she loves.
Premiering January 4 at 10:00 p.m. on WPBT2

To watch a promo on uVu, click here.

Make or Break

Make: is the DIY series for a new generation! It celebrates “Makers” – the inventors, artists, geeks and just plain everyday folks who mix new and old technology to create new-fangled marvels. The series encourages everyone to invent, revent, recycle, upcycle, and act up. Based on the popular Make magazine, each half-hour episode inspires millions to think, create, and, well, make.

Make: premieres on WPBT2 on January 4 at 11:30 a.m. and online at makezine.tv in January 2009.  It's produced by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) in St. Paul, Minn.  Full episodes will be available at makezine.tv as well as PDFs of all the DIY projects on the show. (Makers can submit their own videos for the Maker Channel segment of the show at makerchannel.org)

University School Performing Arts Reunion

Reunion: The Tradition Continues
Alumni and current students of performing arts at NSU’s University School, including Josh Gad and Seth Gabel, united for a single performance and retrospective of 17 years of past performances. Taped at the Parker Playhouse on December 27, 2008, you can watch a clip here.

Digital TV converter coupons in short supply

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumers who wait too long to request government coupons to subsidize converter boxes for the digital television transition in February may come up empty-handed, a regulator has warned.

Due to a last-minute rush of coupon requests, demand may exceed supply in the coming month, said the Department of Commerce official overseeing the subsidy program.

Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who asked for the update on the digital TV transition, said Congress may need to quickly pass additional funds in early January for the coupons.

Congress ordered the switch to digital signals, effective February 17, 2009, to free up public airwaves for other uses such as for police and fire departments.