It’s the Very Hungry Caterpillar‘s anniversary

Eric Carle’s beloved children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, turns 40 years old this year. Can you believe it? As children all over the world chant, “But he was still hungry” (in their native tongue, of course), Carle himself reflects on the evolution of the book in this video.

I have to admit, as much as I love the book, I may love the author more. He just seems like the quintessential grandpa, doesn’t he?

Happy anniversary, Hungry Caterpillar! My kids and I sure did enjoy watching you journey towards being a beautiful butterfly!

A new intro to Thwoop!

Hey, the folks behind Thwoop! just put together a fun little video to explain the whole Thwoop! thing to those who haven’t yet jumped on board.

For explaining an entire site with so much packed into it in under a minute and a half, I think they did a bang-up job! That’s definitely a great place to start, if you’re just starting to explore Thwoop! for the first time.

After you watch that, you’re on your way to exploring the endless possibilities; watch, upload, review… you can do it all.

Personally, I think the favorite part is explaining exactly how to pronounce Thwoop! (I prefer drawing out the “oo” part just a little), but maybe that’s just me….

Then and now, it’s berry delicious

Like most girls my age back in the *mumble80smumble*, I had a deep and abiding love of all things Strawberry Shortcake. What was not to like? She smelled like strawberries! This is one of those everything-old-is-new-again lines that I was thrilled to see making a comeback—my daughter loves her, too.

You can imagine how tickled I was to see not only that there’s a Strawberry Shortcake Channel over at Thwoop!, but there’s even a video of an old commercial for Strawberry Shortcake cereal. Wow, that one took me right into the wayback machine. I remember begging for that stuff. (It turned the milk pink!)

Ah, memories.

I guess I’m a Domo Dummy

Okay, so, I’ve seen this little Domo fellow before, I’m pretty sure. I mean, he’s everywhere. And he’s cute, I guess. And… ummm… brown.

But apparently he’s the star of some Japanese show. Which brings us to this video I just came across over at Thwoop!, called Domo Birth. Go watch it. I’ll wait.

Sooooo… is it just me, or was that really odd?

Just checking.

Thwoop troops reporting for duty, Sir!

Did you know that as a member of the Thwoop! community you’re part of the law ’round here? It’s true! Once you’re a Thwoop! troop, you’re automatically part of the Defense Bureau. Part of the beauty of Thwoop! is that users can add content, but of course then there’s the risk, too, of something inappropriate turning up. If you see something that’s not okay, you can go to the Defense Bureau page and report it.

It’s sort of like having a Neighborhood Watch group, but here amongst all of these cool videos. Pretty neat!

Get your beat box on

If your kids (or, let’s face it, you) can’t get enough of Yo Gabba Gabba, you’ll want to check out the Yo Gabba Gabba Channel at Thwoop! for your favorite YGG stuff. I’m partial to Biz’s Beat of the Day, but it’s possible that I find small children trying to beat box more amusing than I should.

Don’t forget that you can submit your favorites, too, so if you’re wishing for a video that’s not there yet, get to work! Besides, I’m getting sort of tired of only knowing a couple of beat box moves….

I like elephants

Are you ever working on something, and your kids ask what you’re doing, and then you go to show them, and before you know it you’re clicking around and looking for something that will make them laugh?

And then you find a great song that they love and you all watch the video together a few times, and then the next day you cannot get the song out of your head, and so everything you do all day long is punctuated by an insipid refrain, like, maybe, “Elephants! I like elephants!”

What? Oh. Me neither, then. Ahem.

Props for Thwoop!

In all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I almost forgot to point out the simply lovely piece Steve Rosenbaum at VatorNews wrote about the evolution of Ty’s Toy Box and Thwoop!.

You can read the whole thing by visiting VatorNews, of course (and you should, because it’s a great read), but I particularly like how zeroes in on how user-centric both sites are:

The thing that is truly interesting about Thwoop is that it is a real world example of how the changes in both media and marketing are shifting from centralized control of scarcity, to consumer driven content. What Simpson has plugged into is the emergence of customized content for small, but clearly addressable audiences.

And then, at the end:

In a perfect world, the relationship between advertisers and content is organic, useful, and customer friendly.

In looking at Thwoop.com, you can get a glimpse at just how that may look.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Hopla — Flemish for bunny

Okay, well, technically I suppose maybe it’s not Flemish for bunny, but Hopla is a Flemish cartoon for toddlers featuring a bunny named Hopla.

Details.

And now you can watch Hopla and his friends right here on Thwoop! on the Hopla Channel! I’ve got to say, I’m loving being able to test out kids’ shows—commercial-free—right here on my own computer. It’s so much nicer than slogging through the billions of videos on YouTube, or cluttering up my DVR with things the kids may or may not like.

Also, how many Flemish cartoons have you seen before? See that… you’re expanding your horizons.

Thwoop! is calling… you!

Sure, Thwoop! gathers content from all over the globe to bring you the content and show you and your kids love, but did you know that there’s a section of the site just for user-generated videos?

Make your own product commercial! Or show us your favorite toy. Or how your kid does a better version of “Party in my Tummy” than the original. Whatever. If you film it, you can add it to the site and share it with other Thwoop! users.

My personal favorite (thus far) is this Ben 10 one where the characters discover that their plastic incarnations aren’t really as well-equipped for fighting crime as they normally are in the cartoons. Hilarious. Go watch it, if you haven’t.

And then get filming—we want to see you!