'The Huffington Post' Reporter Talks To Former Nickelodeon And "All That" Star Alisa Reyes At "PopCon 2012"

From The Huffington Post:

My Day at PopCon

After weeks of hoping, waiting, and speculating, on July 6, PopCon, the first annual pop culture convention, finally descended upon the City of Angels and has opened up its doors to the eagerly awaiting public. Now that it had finally arrived, I began the day hoping to get a taste of what PopCon had to offer. So, I threw on my media pass, grabbed my recording device, and stepped inside the LA Convention Center to see what all the fuss was about.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the convention room was the large amount of tables set up everywhere, and the huge variety of them. There was a smattering of everything, from booths for organizations and clubs -- such as the R2-D2 builders club amongst others -- to tables promoting celebrities of all types, like James Hong (Kung Fu Panda), Margot Kidder (Superman), Alisa Reyes (All That), Tony Curran (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and more. I decided to visit the organizational booths first.

[...]

Also while I was there, I was able to talk with Alisa Reyes -- one of the cast of the classic teen show All That -- about her experiences on the show ("absolutely amazing") and her career since her days with Nickelodeon ("busy and filled with variety"). I even learned all about some of the crazy stuff that went on behind the scenes of Caddy Shack and Tron from the incredible Cindy Morgan. Overall, it was candid moments like these that really made this Con what it was.

You can read award-winning actress, entrepreneur, TV/Video producer, public speaker, author, and writer Clarissa Burt's full coverage of the first annual "PopCon" pop culture convention, "PopCon 2012", which was held in Los Angeles, California, USA on Friday 6th July 2012 at the LA Convention Center here on the official 'The Huffington Post' website, huffingtonpost.com.

Nickelodeon Land At Pleasure Beach, Blackpool "Having A Very Positive Impact On Increasing Visitor Numbers" To Blackpool, UK

From the Herald Express via This Is South Devon:

Bay tourism company beats rivals to scoop top national award

TORBAY'S tourism company has landed a top national award — beating some of its arch rivals.

The English Riviera Tourism Company has won the 'best in class' website award at the 2012 British Destinations Association Conference in Blackpool.

The judges agreed that the English Riviera's new destination website homepage is the best in Britain, beating other leading resorts including Bournemouth, Scarborough, Blackpool and Great Yarmouth.

ERTC chief executive Carolyn Custerson said: "I am obviously delighted to receive this award as it builds on previous success achieved by the English Riviera Tourist Board, which also won British Destinations Association awards.

"To have achieved a national website award such as this when the ERTC is only 18 months old and when e-marketing is moving at such a rapid rate is a notable achievement.

"I would like to thank everyone involved including the ERTC executive team, E-Strategy, a local Torbay business who now manages the site on our behalf and New Mind, a highly reputable international web site solution company. This has a been a real team effort."

The ERTC board decided to invest £50,000 to relaunch the official website www.englishriviera.co.uk as part of its first business plan, recognising the need to 'up the pace' on digital destination marketing.

The investment forms part of the delivery of the adopted Turning the Tide for Tourism strategy with developments also including a new English Riviera iPhone and Android App, web site widgets, new Facebook page and plans to launch a new English Riviera mobile web platform.

The ERTC says the new website is performing well with more than 500 local businesses now promoted on the site.

Traffic to the site for May alone was up 95 per cent on May last year and the tourism company is now on target to attract 500,000 visitors by the end of the year, double the levels achieved in 2011.

Mrs Custerson attended the two-day conference which included time to view the results of Blackpool's £500million resort rejuvenation programme that has been taking place in the resort over the past five years.

She said: "It was very exciting to see all the work that has been happening in Blackpool with the arrival of international brands Merlin and Nickelodeon clearly having a very positive impact on increasing visitor numbers.

"Blackpool Council has also made the decision to set up a new, private sector-led, arms-length company like the ERTC. During the conference visit, their representatives were very interested to learn more about the successes the ERTC are having and are planning to visit the English Rivera to learn more."

Nickelodeon UK Announces And Confirms At The 'Children's Media Conference 2012' Plans To Show The Brand New Nickelodeon Shows "The Legend of Korra", "Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures", "FRED: THE SHOW", "How To Rock" And "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Soon!

While attending the 'Children's Media Conference 2012', a conference held in the UK for everyone involved in developing, producing and distributing content to kids – on all platforms), as part of Nickelodeon UK's panel, Nickelodeon UK treated 'Children's Media Conference 2012' attendees by showing them a very special presentation called "This Is Nickelodeon" (video below) which was produced and edited by London-based creative producer, writer and editor Allan Blatch, in which, as well as showcasing some of Nickelodeon UK's, Nicktoons UK's, and Nick Jr. Channel UK's most popular shows, such as "SpongeBob SquarePants", "House of Anubis", "iCarly", "Victorious", "Camp Orange UK", "Big Time Rush", "Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness", "Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom", "Team Umizoomi", "Tickety Toc", "Poppy Cat", "Bubble Guppies", "Olive the Ostrich!", "Peppa Pig", and Nick Jr. Channel UK's upcoming brand new show "Pocoyo", Nickelodeon UK also announced and confirmed a few of the brand new Nickelodeon shows that Nickelodeon UK will start to premiere and show on Nickelodeon UK quite soon, possibly as part of Nickelodeon UK's Autumn/Winter 2012 season.

According to the "Check Out The Hit New Shows On Nickelodeon" section of Nickelodeon UK's Children's Media Conference 2012 image spot, a few of the brand new Nickelodeon shows that Nickelodeon UK will start to show in the not-to-distant future are the brand new Nickelodeon sitcom "Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures", the brand new Nickelodeon comedy series "FRED: THE SHOW", the brand new original animated Nickelodeon series "The Legend of Korra" (due to premiere on Nickelodeon UK during Autumn/Fall 2012), the brand new Nickelodeon comedy show "How To Rock", and Nickelodeon's brand new CGI-animated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series (due to premiere on Nickelodeon UK during Autumn/Fall 2012)!

Nickelodeon Image Spot for the Children's Media Conference 2012 from Allan Blatch on Vimeo.

Produced and Edited by Allan Blatch for Nickelodeon UK.

Nickelodeon UK Announces Nickelodeon UK's August 2012 Schedule Highlights - New Shows, New Episodes, Sneak Peeks, A Special Week Long Stunt, And More!

According to the "List of Nickelodeon (UK & Ireland) Events" Wiki page on the free internet encyclopedia 'Wikipedia', Nickelodeon UK has announced a few of Nickelodeon UK and Ireland's August 2012 Highlights via Email with a Nickelodeon UK viewer.

According to Nickelodeon UK, in addition to Nickelodeon UK starting to premiere and show the second series of "Camp Orange UK", "Camp Orange 2012" on Nickelodeon UK and Ireland and Nickelodeon HD UK from Thursday 16th August 2012, to celebrate "Summer On Nickelodeon 2012", Nickelodeon UK's latest brand new show, "Alien Surf Girls", a brand new Australian science fiction/fantasy television program produced by Jonathan M. Shiff (the maker of the Nickelodeon UK shows "H2O: Just Add Water" and "The Elephant Princess"/"The Rock Princess"), which Nickelodeon UK will premiere on Nickelodeon UK and Ireland and Nickelodeon HD UK from Monday 23rd July 2012, will be continuing on Nickelodeon UK throughout August 2012.

As well as Nickelodeon UK's brand new show, Nickelodeon UK is also planning to premiere and show brand new episodes of "Power Rangers Samurai" on Nickelodeon/HD in August 2012.

To celebrate the summer holidays on Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon UK will also be bringing their "Nickelodeon Shuffle" programming block back to weekday mornings, giving Nickelodeon UK viewers the chance to wake up with back-to-back episodes of their favourite Nickelodeon shows!

Nickelodeon UK have also announced that Nickelodeon UK and Ireland and Nickelodeon HD UK will be showing a sneak peek of another brand new show, and that Nickelodeon UK have also got a special week long programming stunt planned for August 2012 as well.

Although Nickelodeon UK have not released any more details about Nickelodeon UK's brand new show, such as which new show they'll be giving a sneak peek of to Nickelodeon viewers in August 2012, or what Nickelodeon UK's week long stunt will be about and involve, but some of the possibilities of Nickelodeon UK's new show are the brand new original animated Nickelodeon series "The Legend of Korra" (due to premiere on Nickelodeon UK during Autumn 2012), Nickelodeon's brand new CGI-animated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series (also scheduled to premiere on Nickelodeon UK during Autumn 2012), "Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures" (due to premiere on Nickelodeon UK later this year (2012)), "Fred: The Show", and "How To Rock". Nickelodeon UK could also be planning to air early sneak peek previews of five of the brand new Nickelodeon shows - "How To Rock", "Fred: The Show", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Avatar: The Legend of Korra", and "Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures" - that Nickelodeon UK are planning to premiere during Nickelodeon UK's late 2012/early 2013 season as part of Nickelodeon UK's week long special programming stunt.

Also, Tweeted (posted) by Nickelodeon UK and Eire on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUK):

Someone develops a crush in @victorious at 12pm - any idea who it is?

And:

Love @icarly singing! Fab :)

Also:

Tess is feeling guilty! #lifewithboys - on in 1/2 hour!

And:

Every day we're shuffling! check out @iCarly, #lifewithboys, @victorious & #bigtimerush from 11am

Also:

Aw - poor Kendall & Jo in #bigtimerush - decisions, decisions...

And:

Loved #lifewithboys! I'm always having bathroom battles with boys! r u?

Also:

Wedding bells are ringing in #bigtimerush this avo! 1.30pm peeps! :)

The Huffington Post Interviews Mathew Knowles About His New TeenNick USA Reality Show "Breaking From Above"

From The Huffington Post:

Mathew Knowles Talks New Destiny's Child Album, Blue Ivy, Reality Television

As this year marks the 20th anniversary of Mathew Knowles' Music World Entertainment, the industry titan is showing no signs of halting the label's track record of success. In recent weeks, Beyonce's dad premiered his international reality television show, "Breaking From Above," in America as part of a joint venture with MTV International. The series, which initially aired last November in 160 countries, follows Knowles’ latest girl group, From Above, as they navigate the mogul's artist development program.

During a recent interview with The Huffington Post, the Fisk University graduate and former Xerox executive opened up on his latest foray into unscripted television, and offered some details on the release of two new Destiny's Child albums and his love for his grandchildren, Juelz and Blue Ivy.

Congratulations on the recent U.S. premiere of "Breaking From Above." Are you planning on shooting additional episodes of the show?

Yes, we're absolutely thinking about doing that. We’re in the discussion phase right now. This is all a part of a joint venture with MTV International and so Teen Nick falls within their Viacom system. And it’s the older demo for the channel [13 to 21], with a sweet spot around 18, 19-year-olds. Which is also the sweet spot from my girl group, From Above.

Where do you envision From Above in terms of making an impact on today’s music scene?

We have to look at more creative ways to rolling out albums. And we’re still in discussions with having that strategic partner that we need. It’s my belief that you can’t put out albums today just in a vacuum without having a strategic partner. And that was the reason why we were so successful with Destiny’s Child and Beyonce, because we always had L'Oreal, Walmart, clothing lines, etc. etc. So we’re still a work in progress with From Above.

Is this your first experience working on a reality show?

This is actually my second. I did my first one about six years ago with Channel 4 over in the U.K., which is one of their larger networks. However, this is the first show that I’m the creator of. And we’re looking to do more of that in the future, because TV is the new radio for music.

What are your thoughts on so many record executives, such as yourself, transitioning over into unscripted television?

I think they offer a lot of knowledge, and so I think that they’re the right people for those roles that they’re playing. Maybe I’ll get a call one day for “American Idol” [Laughs].

You can read Huffington Post's full interview with Mathew Knowles here on the official Huffington Post website,