Bullying Behavior In America Features Karen Klein & Max Sidorov

A Good Samaritan From Toronto Yesterday, we traveled to Greece, N.Y. to film bullied bus monitor Karen Klein and Max Sidorov of Toronto, Canada. They were both eager to participate in our 'Bullying Behavior In America' documentary story and help spread the StopBullying anti-bullying campaign.


Nurturing Respect Did Karen Klein have a responsibility to assert her authority over her seventh-grade tormentors? Some might be quick to point the finger and write that, "The takeaway for a child witnessing her passivity would be: 'If a grown-up can’t do anything to stop them, then I sure can’t.' That simply isn’t true. School districts and parents must learn from this case."

Hopefully, Karen's story will inspire all of us to get involved.


Karen's Words To Live By: As her story begins to fade from the news cycle into a full blown movement, Karen will ride off into the sunset a whole lot richer because of a video of that incident went viral and inspired Max Sidorov to set up an online fundraising account in her name. In less than 1 month, the video has net more than $680,000!

What the seventh-graders meant for bad, God turned it to good. Returning to a school bus, however, is not part of the plan.


We're Going To Disneyland We had the honor of meeting Amanda Romig and Michelle Hawkins, the daughters of Karen Klein, who were gracious to interview for our documentary. Thank you Amanda, Michelle, Karen, Max, and the 3 little Klein granddaughters for allowing us to share your story. Enjoy retirement!

PaintBox Labs Develops 'A Fashion Mind with J. Alexander Martin' TV Series

VuMee Presents A refreshing new TV series created by Chris Surrey and J. Alexander Martin to give fans and followers of J. Alexander Martin a personal look into the life of a fashion expert and business advisor. J’s passion for fashion, business, faith in action, music, arts, films, authors, and travel news stories come together in a weekly TV program.

The quirky 24 minute show will offer business tips, lifestyle & branding consultation with celebrities, and insights into fashion trends around the world.

Topics of discussion will range from “Where in the world is it best to be a woman?” to “Starting a family and a business at the same time?” to “8 Steps to Create a Brand for Your Blog”.

And with VuMee, fans of ‘A Fashion Mind’ show can view videos posted by J. Alexander Martin as they happen, any time - any place.


Inside A Fashion Mind with Reporter Bobbi Jo Kitchen Thanks to the spontaneous interviewing skills of Bobbi Jo Kitchen, we were able to film our first pilot and documentary project around J. Alexander Martin, plus add a new talent to the PaintBox Labs team.

Bobbi Jo exploded onto the modeling scene as a lead in the Young Buck music video for the single “I know U Want Me,” featuring Jazze Pha. As a model/actress, she has since been recognized by artists and casting directors as a woman who definitely stands out above the rest.


Making The Brand J. Alexander Martin, an accomplished designer, has successfully given the fashion industry a unique line of clothing through FUBU (For Us By Us), which currently reports over $6B in sales to date.

As Vice President and Creative Director of FuBu/FB and Crown Holder, J’s stylish market trends and industry techniques reflect his strong eye for color coordination, fabric and embellishments have made him a definite one to watch on any runway.

Does J have what it takes to land a judge role on a new fashion competition show called 'Making The Brand'? To be continued...

Madison-Oneida BOCES Students Support Bullying Behavior In America Documentary

An Anti-Bullying & Tolerance Music Video Story Yesterday, we had the honor of meeting the students of Madison-Oneida BOCES middle & high school located in Verona, NY. Thanks to the warm welcome of school officials, we were allowed to film and interview the students about an anti-bullying and tolerance music they participated in called The Groovy Project, featuring artist NateKid.


A Social Media Experiment Our film crew documented Jennifer Maloney-Prezioso and Nate Lombardi, the creators of The Groovy Project, as they engaged the students (Chris Standen, Chris Northup, Devin Clark, Kevin Drake, Allora Baker, Gabriella Titus, Esteban Ramos) about the rise of anti-bullying campaigns and the effects of television, the internet, and social media on bullying behaviors in America.


1 Million People And Counting The goal of the pro-acceptance and anti-bullying music video project is to get it to 1 MILLION people. With the dedication of the Awaken Entertainment staff, the Madison-Oneida BOCES officials, and a 2 day social media experiment, the students conducted an aggressive viral campaign to prove a positive message can infiltrate the news media just as quickly as negative news.

They encouraged as many of their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and MySpace friends to watch their music video and send it to EVERYONE they knew. In less than 1 month, the video has gotten over 25,000 hits...and counting!


What Are YOU Doing To Make A Difference? Thank you Doug, NateKid, Jennifer, Alyssa, Laurie, Sapna, and Mary Jo for being Groovy and allowing us to share your story. They encourage EVERYONE to Be An Element of Change! Get Involved! Stop Bullying! Because Words Do Hurt!

VP & Co-Founder of FUBU Helps Promote Kids Cooking Show

World's Highest Quality Chef Jackets Joseph “Chef JJ” Johnson & J. Alexander Martin of VuMee, chose Crooked Brook to help design Chef JJ's custom chef coats for the HealthCorps' Teen Battle Chef Showdown in NYC. The Vice President and Creative Director of FuBu/FB and Crown Holder, presented Chef JJ with two different chef coat styles to wear during the photo shoot, press presentation, and showdown competition.

Grey Chef Coat (left) - style M101 style, 100% Organic Cotton Twill fabric with Abalone Buttons
White Chef Coat (right) - style M101 jacket, 100% cotton Seersucker fabric with White Rivershell buttons

Embroidery placement for both jackets:
Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ logo & VuMee logo on left chest
Crooked Brook logo on the left sleeve
Teen Battle Chef logo on the right sleeve


For Us By US J. Alexander Martin, an accomplished designer, who has successfully given the fashion industry a unique line of clothing through FUBU, stopped by the film shoot to meet Chef JJ and some of our kids cooking show cast members (Aubrey, Khail, Jelani, Joshua, and Morgan).

J’s stylish market trends and industry techniques reflect his strong eye for color coordination, fabric and embellishments have made him a definite one to watch on any runway. He is currently working on his own brand called “J. Alexander” featuring designer men’s suits and dress shirts. Hopefully, we can encourage him to add an Executive Producer title to his list of impressive accomplishments.


Record it...Name it...Upload it...Share it...Vu It. Thanks to the generous sponsorship support of VuMee, we were able to print custom Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ/Let's Move! tees to promote our cause and give them away for free to festival patrons.

Our VuMee online channel will give viewers a “behind the scenes” look into the making of our show. The 3 minute segment will showcase new projects, bloopers, sponsor promo video shoots, and educational messages to help bring more awareness to First Lady Obama's Let’s Move! (childhood obesity) national campaign. VuMee has over 100 celebrities and brands with a cumulative fanbase of over 150 Million to help us rally support for our cause and merchandise.


Let's Move! Fun Food Facts Q&A J. Alexander was even gracious enough to play our Let's Move! Fun Food Facts Q&A game on camera. Just for getting 2 out of 3 answers correct, he received a free Play Pretty book and a warm 'Thank You' applause from his 6 new VuMee fans.


Play Pretty, Play Pals Project And as a bonus, J watched as Chef JJ surprised Khail with her own Play Pretty, Play Plays Project character t-shirt. All of our Broadway Stars have cartoon characters drawn in their likeness to promote our anti-bullying campaign. Khail was very happy to represent our first printed t-shirt.

Joseph "Chef JJ" Johnson Hosts HealthCorps' Teen Battle Chef Showdown in NYC

Highway To Health This weekend, Chef JJ and our kids cooking show cast participated in the HealthCorps' Highway To Health Festival at South Street Seaport @ Pier 17. The festival was a free event open to the public of all ages to celebrate the variety of resources in their neighborhood to help them lead a healthier lifestyle. The event included health screenings, fitness experts and workouts, cooking and nutrition tips, and lifestyle tips with live entertainment and Guest speakers.


Custom Chef Coats by Crooked Brook Thanks to the warm reception of Helena Judd, the festival's Associate Producer, we were able to promote our new Play Pretty, Play Pals Project and Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ merchandise to help spread the Let’s Move! message to fight childhood obesity through fun and flavorful activities around balanced food choices.


Chain Reaction Spinning One of the many fun activities Chef JJ and our "behind the scenes" reporters & crew got to participate in was the Jack Rabbit Sports and New York Sports Clubs sponsored "Chain Reaction Spinning" event to promote fitness and wellness through cycling.

The Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ cast members (with the exception of Morgan) were under 14 so they couldn't actually ride the cardio bikes, but we thought they'd make good 1-on-1 motivators for Chef JJ, Morgan, and our 2 young crew members. How fast can you ride for 10 minutes without stopping?


Please Applaud To Show Your Support We even created signage for the Teen Battle Chefs showdown main event to encourage the crowd to show some love for all the NYC coordinators, students, judges, vendors, and sponsors like VuMee who helped make the free event possible.

The dark shades were actually provided to Chef JJ by HealthCorps during registration, but our young "star" cast member (Jelani) insisted that he'd be a better representative to sport the glasses.


“Stirring Up Change.” The highlight of the festival event was the Teen Battle Chef Showdown hosted by Chef JJ of Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ. Our kids got to participate in a press presentation with Dr. Oz, celebrity judges Chef George Duran & Chef Denisse Oller, star student judge Elizabeth “Liz” Cordero Hernandez of Edward A. Reynolds Westside High School, and the ten (10) Teen Battle Chef students from various NYC high schools like Kurt Hahn, Aviation, George Washington, West Side, University Heights, and South Shore.


Let's Move! To End Childhood Obesity Dr. Mehmet Oz, the HealthCorps Co-Founder and daytime Emmy-winning host of The Dr. Oz Show, was more than willing to mingle with the crowd to show his sincere appreciation and passion with the fans. Our mission is to help fight childhood obesity in America. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring Chef JJ and Dr. Oz together again in future episodes. To be continued... :-)

Chef JJ Takes Action Against Childhood Obesity

Kids Food Festival Yesterday, Chef JJ and our kids cooking show cast participated in the first inaugural Kids Food Festival event at Citi Pond @ Bryant Park. Thanks to the sincere welcome of Rachel Bonham Carter, we were allowed to promote our new kids cooking show t-shirts and help spread the Let’s Move! message to fight childhood obesity through fun and flavorful activities around balanced food choices.


Let's Move! Fun Food Facts Q&A Our "behind the scenes" reporters got to quiz Cricket Azima, the co-Founder of the Kids Food Festival, and Victoria Jordan Rodriguez of James Beard Foundation about childhood obesity using a fun Q&A game developed by Young Faces Smiling founder, Ardella McClarty.


Will You Sign The Pledge With Us? We even signed Share Our Strength's pledge to make No Kid Hungry in America a reality, and interviewed a team of passionate young volunteers about why they decided to spend their weekend helping to support the non-profit organization.

One teenager who was a fan of Chef JJ shared his passion for cooking and desire to attend the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in the Fall of 2012.

Ironically, his nickname was also JJ.


“Changing the world one meal at a time.” The highlight of the festival event was a visit to KickinKitchen.TV screening room where Chef JJ and our kids got to meet Natasha Lance Rogoff, CEO & Executive Producer of the premier kids entertainment media company producing transmedia programming for TV, the web and mobile applications.

Mrs. Rogoff and her daughter Juliane (cast member Stacy) were more than willing to answer questions from our kids about their show, which takes the comedy and format of a sitcom, the utility of a cooking show, and the connectivity of digital and social media, and smashes it together into a ground breaking transmedia property, empowering kids to actively participate in their own food choices, cooking and health.

We're excited about the opportunity to potentially collaborate with Natasha on our show. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring Chef JJ and the KickinKitchen cast together in 1 or more episodes. To be continued... :-)

Garden State Market Partners with Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ

Welcome to the Garden State Market Today, Chef JJ met with Ellen Haddigan and Musa Durgun at their produce store located at 77 South Dean Street in Englewood, NJ. They discussed several creative ways for us to collaborate on the Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ TV program.


Kids Love Free Produce Some of the ideas shared with us were a Garden State Market/Kids Love Cooking with Chef JJ branded produce truck that travels to urban communities and schools in NYC to give away free fruits & vegetables.


Who Wants To Be A Vegan? Another idea centered around a Vegan episode with Russell Simmons' assistant Simone Reyes and celebrity activist Suzanne Africa Engo, daughter of late United Nations Ambassador Paul Engo; and an on-premise cooking episode at The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with Chef JJ and our Broadway Stars.

These we're all brilliant show ideas proposed by Ellen, who might have just earned herself a Producer title to add with her current Executive Director role at the MSKCC organization.

We're 100% sold on partnering with the Garden State Market founders.  Now we just have to put our creative minds together to seek out the right financial relationships to help bring our ideas to fruition. :-)