discuss the importance of toys - to adults too

It’s Toy Time!

TFK gets the scoop on the coolest toys for 2014 at the 111th American International Toy Fair

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

By Cameron Keady

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FRANK FRANKLIN II—AP

Strawberry Shortcake and Cherry Jam greet Toy Fair attendees at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Feb. 16, 2014, in New York City. 

What’s four days long, bigger than seven football fields, and filled with thousands of toys? It’s Toy Fair 2014!

Each year, hundreds of toy companies from across the country come together in New York City. All sorts of products are displayed as a sneak peek at what’s to come in the new year. This year’s trends include retro items, like Slinky and Scrabble, with a modern twist. Oversize toys, like giant plushies and ride-ons, are popular too.  “In 2014, everything is really big and really out there,” says Adrienne Appell, a toy-trends expert.

Toy Fair is the largest toy trade show in the Western Hemisphere. Toy-store buyers attend the event for an early preview of items they may want to sell during the holiday season. Members of the media, like TFK, go to the fair to report back on all the cool trends. Unfortunately, Toy Fair is not open to the public.

Toy Trends

This year’s Toy Fair was the biggest in its 111-year history. More than 1,000 toy companies and manufacturers exhibited products ranging from simple card games to high-tech robots.

“Larger Than Life” was a Toy Fair favorite. This trend is all about big toys with a big play value. There were also familiar brands like Lego and Crayola at the event, making classic items another popular trend. Some of the stuff TFK saw was the same toys our parents played with as kids, but with a modern twist.

Though it is all fun and games at Toy Fair, we saw lots of products making a push towards education, with STEAM. That stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. This trend includes word games, puzzles, and building kits.

And of course, we saw some super cool, high-tech games. “Technology is always going to influence toys,” says Appell. “This year we saw lots of virtual printing, 3D games, and robots.”

shutting down ...is that a good idea?

One of the largest mass layoffs in recent Russian history is to occur on Wednesday, and the Kremlin itself is decreeing it, economic crisis or not.

The government is shutting down every last legal casino and slot-machine parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Vladimir V. Putin that just a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the result will be hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of work.

And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia, as many as 4,000 miles from the capital. The potential marketing slogans — Come to the Las Vegas of Siberia! Have a Ball near the North Korean Border! — may not sound inviting, but that is in part what the government envisions.

so are you like the chinese americans or japanese?

Chinese high school students have the longest study hours compared with their peers in Japan, South Korea and the United States, a survey conducted by the four countries has shown.
According to the survey, released by the China Youth and Children Research Centre on Monday, 78.3 per cent of Chinese students spend more than eight hours at school, while 56.7 per cent put in another two hours or more at home every day.

In contrast, only 24.7 per cent of students in the US, 20.5 per cent in Japan and 15.4 per cent in South Korea study for two hours or more after school.

While most Chinese students spend their rest days studying, resting or surfing the Internet, the Americans go out and have fun with friends, the Japanese exercise while the Koreans watch television.

Not surprisingly, most of the high school students in all four countries entertained thoughts of dropping out of school, said the survey, which was carried out in September and October last year and covered more than 4,000 students.

It also warned of the possible fallout from pressure to do well at school.

'Moderate study pressure can better drive students to develop; however, too much will squeeze their development space, and can even cause harm to their physical and psychological health,' the survey observed. 'Balancing their studies and all-round development is a very important task.'

Indeed, across the board, about 60 per cent of students said studies formed their heaviest burden in life. Japanese students appeared to feel the burden most, with 79.2 per cent ranking studies as their biggest headache.

The other sources of grief for young people in the four countries were a monotonous leisure life, unsatisfactory appearance, little time for exercise and making friends as well as no spare money.

Bee Movie

should we be exploiting animals the way we do?
is a life full of leisure a worthwhile one?

Having just graduated from three days of college, a bee by the name of Barry Bee Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice – honey. As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger). He is shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bees' honey for centuries, and ultimately realizes that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race for stealing their precious honey. Because of this, Barry wins the lawsuit, and all honey in the world is confiscated and returned to the bees. But now, Barry and Vanessa realize that now all the honey in the world is back, every bee has been put out of a job, and thus cannot earn money for their families. Barry also realizes that without bees pollinating the flowers, the plant life is dying. To set things right, he and Vanessa find a way to re-pollinate the flowers by going to the final rose show in California, and bringing them as luggage to the airport. Afterwards, the Bees get all their jobs back and give the honey back to the humans, realizing that without their jobs they were not truly happy when they had all their honey, though the humans and bees treat each other better now. Barry becomes a member of the Bee Brigade, helping to repollinate the plants while running a law firm inside Vanessa's flower shop.

comics

In June 1938, the world was introduced to Superman, the Man of Steel. Back then, there were very few fictional superheroes, and a comic book cost just 10 cents. Today, comic book superheroes are a dime a dozen, and old comic books can sell for more than half a million dollars. Super! Here are the most valuable comic books and their highest known price tags.
1. Action Comics #1 $675,000
2. Detective Comics #27 $525,000
3. Marvel Comics #1 $440,000
4. Superman #1 $400,000
5. All-American Comics #16 $245,000

indian investor in singapore

AN Indian telco and media group is investing US$200 million (S$282 million) in a 24-hour entertainment and shopping complex here, as well as a mobile phone software development centre.
Spice Corp, which has set up its new global headquarters in Singapore, is now looking for a site for the entertainment complex.
The mall will offer round-the-clock dining, shopping, movie screenings and digital entertainment similar to a similar mall the firm operates in Noida, India.