Peppa Pig

Peppa Pig is a British preschool animated television series directed and produced by Astley Baker Davies, which originally aired on 31 May 2004, and is distributed by E1 Kids. To date, four series have been aired. It went on a hiatus for 2 years and 2 months before re-premiering on 14 February 2015. It is shown in 180 countries.

Background

Peppa Pig is a children's television programme broadcasting on Channel 5 and Nick Jr. in the UK, Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. in the USA, ABC 4 Kids and Nick Jr. in Australia and Discovery Kids in Latin America, including Brazil. Each episode is approximately 5 minutes long. The show revolves around Peppa, an anthropomorphic female pig, and her family and friends. Each of her friends is a different species of mammal. Peppa's friends are the same age as she is, and Peppa's younger brother George's friends are the same age as him. Episodes tend to feature everyday activities such as attending playgroup, going swimming, visiting their grandparents, cousins, going to the playground or riding their bikes.

Toy

A toy is an item that can be used for play. Toys are generally played with by children and pets. Playing with toys is an enjoyable means of training young children for life in society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable to all ages. Many items are designed to serve as toys, but goods produced for other purposes can also be used. For instance, a small child may pick up a household item and "fly" it through the air as to pretend that it is an airplane. Another consideration is interactive digital entertainment. Some toys are produced primarily as collector's items and are intended for display only.

The origin of toys is prehistoric; dolls representing infants, animals, and soldiers, as well as representations of tools used by adults are readily found at archaeological sites. The origin of the word "toy" is unknown, but it is believed that it was first used in the 14th century. Toys are mainly made for children.

Playing with toys is important when it comes to growing up and learning about the world around us. Younger children use toys to discover their identity, help their bodies grow strong, learn cause and effect, explore relationships, and practice skills they will need as adults. Adults use toys to form and strengthen social bonds, teach, remember and reinforce lessons from their youth, discover their identity, exercise their minds and bodies, explore relationships, practice skills, and decorate their living spaces.

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake is a licensed character owned by Iconix Brand Group, originally used in greeting cards and expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products. The Strawberry Shortcake properties also include a toy line of the character's friends and pets.

History

The original design of Strawberry Shortcake and her cat, Custard was done in 1977 by Muriel Fahrion during her time as a greeting card illustrator at American Greetings' Juvenile & Humorous card department. Fahrion then designed a subsequent 32 characters for Those Characters From Cleveland (American Greetings' toy & licensing design division).

In 1979, toy manufacturer, Kenner Products, licensed the character and released the first Strawberry Shortcake doll. At the time, Strawberry Shortcake resembled a typical rag doll, complete with freckles, a mop of red yarn curls, and a bonnet with strawberry prints on it. Cindy Mayer Patton and Janet Jones designed the other later characters of the classic Strawberry Shortcake line. Lynn Edwards was the editor of the line and developed the personality profiles as well as the story line and philosophy. The first doll was a rag doll designed by Muriel Fahrion and created by Susan Trentel, Fahrion's sister.

Just Like

"Just Like" is a song recorded by Marvin Gaye in 1978 but wasn't released until after the release of Gaye's posthumous 1985 album, Romantically Yours.

Overview

The song was written and recorded by Gaye in the singer's recording studio in 1978 in sessions culled from the recording of Gaye's albums, Here, My Dear and The Ballads. The song was written around the time that Gaye had finalized his divorce from Anna Gordy and was struggling in his second marriage to Janis. It's unclear if Gaye had wanted to include the song in The Ballads as when the posthumous Vulnerable album came out in 1997, the song was left off of the track listing.

Instead, following Marvin's death, Columbia Records worked with Gaye's former label, Motown, to bring leftover songs to fulfill Gaye's contractual obligations to Columbia (he had signed a three-album deal in 1982). "Just Like" was one of the songs brought up to discussion and was agreed to be placed on the posthumous 1985 album, Romantically Yours. "Just Like" was later released as a single but failed to chart.

Sylvanian Families

Sylvanian Families (シルバニアファミリー, Shirubania famirī) is a line of collectible anthropomorphic animal figurines made of flocked plastic. They were created by the Japanese gaming company Epoch in 1985 and distributed worldwide by a number of companies. Several animated adaptations have been made: Sylvanian Families (American TV series from 1987), Stories of the Sylvanian Families (British TV series from 1998), and Sylvanian Families (Japanese OVA series from 2007.) Epoch also made several video games based on the figures, for Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. There have also been a Sylvanian Families themed restaurant and theme park attractions in Japan. The word sylvan means 'of the forest'.

History

Beginning and growth

At the beginning of production, on March 20, 1985, Sylvanian Families were created and released in Japan by Epoch, which uses the concept of dollhouses and anthropomorphic animal figures. The first releases of the dollhouses and other playsets were made of porcelain and the furniture was made of wood. However, later releases replaced the materials with plastic and metal in the production. The toys were later released in North America the same year, but with different packaging and minor differences to the characters themselves. The toyline was originally titled Pleasant Friends of the Forest Epoch System Collection Animal Toy Sylvanian Families (森のゆかいな仲間たち エポック社 システム・コレクション・アニマルトーイ・シルバニアファミリー, Mori noyu kaina nakama-tachi Epokkusha shisutemu korekushon animarutōi shirubania famirī). However it was changed to its current name.