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The new primetime series produced by Augenblick Studios will debut on May 31st.

Today we look at the work of Sam Lyon, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

Fox's youth-oriented cabler FXX will launch a late-night animation block next month with ADHD.

Fox's experiment with late-night animation didn't go as well as they had anticipated. The network will end its Saturday late-night animation block ADHD (Animation Domination High-Def) in June, less than a year after it began. It was originally created as a replacement for the cancelled sketch comedy show "MADtv."

The push for performance has never been higher. Students today are faced with a grueling course load, extra-curriculars, and standardized tests. In the wake of this competitive atmosphere, the United States has seen a spike in both ADHD diagnoses and increased demand for prescription medicine. But who’s to blame? The fast-paced, technophilic culture that young people are subjected to, or the parents who are quick to medicate a child who is under-performing at school?

In The ADHD Explosion: Myths, Medication, Money, and Today’s Push for Performance, Stephen P. Hinshaw and Richard M. Scheffler offer new insight into the origins, science, and troubling trends behind this ever-increasing disorder. Take our quiz to find out how much you know about ADHD, and learn more about some of the new research published in the book.

Stephen P. Hinshaw and Richard M. Scheffler are the authors of The ADHD Explosion: Myths, Medication, Money, and Today’s Push for Performance. Stephen P. Hinshaw, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Vice-Chair for Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. He is also editor of Psychological Bulletin. Richard M. Scheffler, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy in the School of Public Health and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Image credit: Young teacher explaining the world to preschoolers via iStockphoto.

The post The ADHD explosion: How much do you know about the disorder? appeared first on OUPblog.

        

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Identifying the next Jeffrey Katzenberg or George Lucas isn’t something easily done, but a columnist at the Washington Post has figured out who it is: Nick Weidenfeld.

Weidenfeld, the former Adult Swim development executive whose recent move to Fox has the industry buzzing with anticipation, was the recipient of a glowing profile in last Sunday’s Post, in which his grand plans for the animation industry were revealed.

Post columnist Thomas Heath details Weidenfeld’s career path, starting with his humble beginnings in Washington D.C. where he was raised by an estate lawyer and Betty Ford’s former press secretary—the latter being the daughter of a presidential confidant and ambassador to Italy. Educated at Georgetown Day School and then Columbia University, the Post recounts Weidenfeld’s hardscrabble upbringing where he bounced from an internship at the Pentagon to writing about hip hop and rap, and then clawed his way to a writing gig at Esquire. It was at the last job, while researching a piece about Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, that he ‘bonded’ with CN exec Mike Lazzo over a mutual love of William Faulkner, which was the obvious qualification for a career in animation.

“You wake up one day and you are head of development at the number one ad-supported network on cable TV,” Weidenfeld told the Washington Post. “The nice thing about my story is about the connections I made, but not family connections. I broke into this business myself through friends.”

Weidenfeld attributes his inspirational trajectory from scion to media mogul to his ability to “be open.” When pressed for an explanation, he clarifies, “It’s just being open… to be open to know what you are good at, and know what value you bring to something, you find a way to fit it into whatever job it is. I’m good at making connections or putting an organization or putting pieces together. I’m a good global thinker.”

This unequivocal business acumen was refined by reading the biography of Steve Jobs, the history of Pixar, and Clayton M. Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. “These guys had these ideas and figured out that the old systems don’t work anymore,” Weidenfeld said. “The first thing I said to Fox is I don’t want to just make shows. I want to build a business for you that takes advantage of the best parts of animation.”

Using only the choicest parts of animation, Weidenfeld is ready to reinvent how cartoons are made. He is putting all phases of production for Fox’s upcoming animation block, ADHD (Animation Domination High-Def), from development to animation, under a single roof at his new 120-person Los Angeles studio, generously provided by Fox. From there he intends to usurp the young male demographic from YouTube and Saturday Night Live by producing loads of animated content and writing off the costs. He told the Post that when he presented this foolproof business plan to Fox, they said, “Okay, here you go.”

“It sounds like a parallel universe to me,” writes Heath, “but he’s the one who is becoming the next Jeffrey Katzenberg or George Lucas, not me.”

As you may know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, I have ADD. Because of this, I tend to attract mentoring clients who also have ADD and who are frustrated with their inability to focus or to stick to a writing schedule.

Well, I’ve tried creating schedules for myself in the past. I’ve paid coaches good money to help me figure out what I’ll be doing during which hours and on which days; for example, most recently I decided to do wellness coaching and mentoring on Mondays and Wednesdays, and writing tasks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (I typically take Fridays off.)

I was all psyched to get started on this new schedule — and it lasted exactly one day. Not even one day, in fact. I had to face it: If I’m not interested in writing on a Tuesday, then I’m not going to write. And if I’m suddenly struck by the urge to work on an article at 8 pm on a Wednesday, then that’s what I’m going to do.

Last week my partner for the Freelance Writers Blast Off class, Carol Tice, said something during the class that articulates exactly how I work: “I always do whatever I’m most passionate about every moment of the day.” I had never thought about it in those terms before, but that’s precisely what I do.

For example, Monday might find me writing blog posts all day. On Tuesday, I might work on an article that’s coming due for a little while and then follow up on some old LOIs and then implement some crazy e-course pricing scheme I came up with five minutes ago. Then, on Wednesday I may be in one of those moods where I just can’t get any work done…so I don’t. But as soon as our 3-year-old goes to bed, I’m inspired to finish that article I started on Monday.

This always felt just wrong, but when I thought about it, I realized it’s always worked for me. Everything gets done, and it gets done on time. So I’ve come to trust the process and let it go. I have one ADD mentoring client who is religious, who originally wanted me to help her come up with a schedule, and the saying that resonated with her was “Let go and let God.”

This tactic also works well with the typical ADD sufferer’s problem of being unable to force himself to focus on something he’s not interested in. If I’m trying to write an article when I’m not really inspired to do so, it’s torture and I click away every paragraph or two to do something more interesting, like check my e-mail. But when I am inspired to write, well, get out of my way!

Some people with ADD actually tend to hyper-focus on things they’re interested in and block out all distractions (including people trying to get their attention, police sirens, and other important events), and working on what you’re most interested in every minute is one way to take advantage of that.

Of course, if you decide to go this route you need to take a small leap of faith to test it out and make sure everything does get done. We’re all different, and some writers simply need to create and stick with a schedule.

So, all you writers who are ADD or even just easily distractible — have you ever tried to force yourself to stick to a writing schedule? Did it work, and if so, how did you do it? If it didn’t work, did you manage to come up with a better plan? [lf]

ADHD to some is a racecar running at high speed:

Having ADD is like having a  Ferrari engine   for a brain. It will propel you to win many races in your lifetime. However, there is one problem. You have bicycle brakes! So, you need to see a brake specialist, someone like (Dr. Hallowell). Once you get your brakes strengthened, then the race car can win races instead of spinning out on turns.

To others, it’s a tug-of-war where  one provokes, the other reacts and no one is willing to drop the  rope.  In last week’s blog I said ADHD was treatable but there is no cure.  70% of individuals who have ADHD in childhood continue to have it in adolescence, up to 50% continue to have it in adulthood (ADDitudemag.com). While  not a disease, it is a disorder to be reckoned with both in the family and at school.  Your child’s pediatrician, therapist, and school counselor are invaluable resources.  Read everything you can (a few recommendations were posted in last week’s blog).  Get the whole family involved.  Here are a few things you can do, right now!

• Find something positive to say about your child to your child every day.  So often he/she is getting negative feedback because of the behavior that doesn’t fit into a school setting. Children with ADHD can do well, even excel, when they receive help and support.
• Get your child engaged in some physical activities–tennis, swimming, martial arts, track and field, or even some team sports like soccer, baseball or softball.
• Give your child a hug.  It’s pretty tough to show love and affection when you are battling each other.  Think about it, when was the last time you hugged him/her? The two most important predictors of which children stay out of trouble are:  feeling a positive connection at home and feeling a positive connection at school (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health).

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