Category: Lifestyle

Surabaya, E Java East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa made an earnest request to operators of the province’s tourist attractions to necessitate the use of the “PeduliLindung” application as a prerequisite for entry.

“This is implemented to control the movement of people and ensure that tourists have been vaccinated. It is also important (for the tourist attractions’ managers) to coordinate with the local COVID-19 task force,” She noted at the Grahadi State Building here Saturday.

She remarked that East Java had a total of some 254 tourist attractions. Of the total, 154 tourist attractions have been opened to visitors by implementing various restrictions related to health protocols.

“Except for water-based tourist attractions, including swimming pools, as hotel facilities or others, are advised not to open yet,” she noted.

Source: ANTARA News

(Nasdaq: ZNGA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, announced today that ReVamp, an upcoming multiplayer social deception game, will launch soon in select markets exclusively for Snapchat. The vampire-themed game will be the first social deception title on Snapchat, giving Snapchatters their first chance to sink their teeth into this popular genre.

ReVamp is a real-time multiplayer imposter game where players aim to reveal who the vampire player is among their group of friends while they renovate the rooms of an old mansion. In the game, human players must complete renovation tasks, such as demolition and building, to improve their chances of survival while identifying and defeating the vampire during the voting phase. Vampire players must avoid suspicion while picking off human players by completing a list of fake tasks throughout the mansion.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Snap to create fun new snackable games that fit seamlessly with their platform’s highly social mechanics,” said Bernard Kim, President of Publishing at Zynga. “ReVamp reimagines the social deception game genre for Snapchat’s human and vampire players of all skill levels.”

“Zynga was one of the first developers to launch a title on Snapchat. Since our partnership began, we’ve been impressed by how their development teams work to define the social gaming space as well as bring fun new game concepts and content creation to our community,” said Pany Haritatos, Snap’s Head of Snap Games. “As our games platform continues to grow, titles like ReVamp highlight the platform’s evolution and potential.”

ReVamp is Zynga’s third game to be released exclusively for Snapchat, following Zynga and Snap’s multi-game partnership announcement in June 2020. Zynga has been an original partner for Snapchat since the launch of the Snap Games platform, previously releasing Bumped Out and Tiny Royale for exclusive play on the platform.

Players can visit www.zynga.com for further updates on ReVamp. Snap Games is designed for mobile gameplay between friends and built on the powerful PlayCanvas game engine. The platform, which launched in April 2019, features a curated selection of original and third-party titles.

About Zynga Inc.

Zynga is a global leader in interactive entertainment with a mission to connect the world through games. With massive global reach in more than 175 countries and regions, Zynga has a diverse portfolio of popular game franchises that have been downloaded more than four billion times on mobile, including CSR RacingTM, Empires & PuzzlesTM, Hair ChallengeTM, Harry Potter: Puzzles & SpellsTM, High Heels!TM, Merge Dragons!TM, Merge Magic!™, Queen BeeTM, Toon Blast™, Toy Blast™, Words With FriendsTM and Zynga PokerTM. With Chartboost, a leading mobile advertising and monetization platform, Zynga is an industry-leading next-generation platform with the ability to optimize programmatic advertising and yields at scale. Founded in 2007, Zynga is headquartered in California with locations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.zynga.com or follow Zynga on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or the Zynga blog.

Source: Antara News

Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Bintang Puspayoga, pointed out that currently only a few media platforms, including television, broadcasted material specifically catering to children.

“As a result of this condition, the child audience lacks choices and switches to watching film genres that are not suitable for that age group. This is due to the assumption that the children’s segment is considered boring or uncommercial,” Puspayoga noted in a press release on Thursday.

In fact, television shows have a major influence on the mindset and behavioral patterns of children, she remarked.

“Children are great imitators, and they imitate what they watch,” Puspayoga noted.

The minister assessed that the provision of quality information and educational facilities for children should not be weighed against the value of money.

“In fact, there is an advantage if television shows could support the growth and development of children. They can build a strong, intelligent and qualified young generation as future leaders of the nation,” she remarked.

According to Minister Puspayoga, concerted efforts are deemed necessary to present child-friendly shows. Her ministry and the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) continue to work together in ensuring quality broadcasts for Indonesian children to protect children and ensure fulfilment of their rights.

Her side has also offered inputs on the revision of the Broadcasting Code of Conduct and Broadcast Program Standards (P3SPS), which also emphasized that broadcasters must be heedful of and protect the interests of children and/or youth generation of the country.

Broadcasting institutions, as the content providers, are expected to offer aspects of child-friendly television, including by paying attention to the best interests of children, participating in solving children’s problems, and protecting them from violence, exploitation, discrimination, and other mistreatment as well as fulfilling children’s participation rights.

Minister Puspayoga also suggested that the media must be prudent in screening or conducting background checks on public figures given the opportunity to appear on shows.

“Once again, I remind you not to give all forms of support, glorification, and romanticization of various information that support forms of child abuse, either directly or indirectly. Do not choose talents that are not suitable as role models with inappropriate track records. We have to put our efforts together to realize the fulfillment of children’s rights,” she affirmed.

Source: Antara News

Online streaming platform Netflix has announced a cooperation with Indonesia’s Filming Board (BPI) to provide US$500 thousand, equivalent to Rp7.1 billion, in aid to pandemic-affected film and television workers in Indonesia.

The aid is a part of Netflix’s global hardship fund of US$150 million, equivalent to Rp2.1 trillion, which has been created to assist the creative community amid the pandemic, the company said. The funds have largely been disbursed to pandemic-affected film workers, it added.

The fund aims to financially support crew and freelancers in Indonesia’s film and television industries who have been hit hard by the pandemic, Netflix said.

“We hand out this aid to BPI collaborating with Netflix as well as all BPI-related organizations, so the emergency aid for Indonesia’s film workers can be disbursed,” Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno said in a press statement issued here on Thursday.

“We are optimistic that the synergy and support of all elements of Pentahelix—government, academicians, institutions, business players, public, and media—would create the innovation and creativity in boosting the economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

In a bid to accelerate the recovery of the creative economy sector, especially the film sub-sector in 2021, the ministry will also carry out the national economic recovery (PEN) program for the sub-sector under three schemes: the Indonesian film promotion scheme, Indonesian film production scheme, and Indonesian film license purchasing scheme, he informed.

Through such programs, Indonesia’s film industry is expected to contribute to economic recovery so that employment in the film industry and the film production cycle can be reinstated, he said.

Meanwhile, BPI chairman Chand Parwez said he respected Netflix’s support for Indonesia’s film workers.

“We will prioritize the most-affected workers who mostly need the assistance by considering the beneficiaries’ financial struggle,” he added.

Meanwhile, Netflix public policy SEA director Ruben Hattari noted that the prolonged pandemic is still affecting Indonesia.

Through aid fund disbursement and cooperation with BPT, Netflix hopes that it can help the affected-workers in the entertainment industry, he added.

“Hopefully, with the financial support disbursed in the midst of the pandemic, they will resume the creative projects soon,” Hattari said.

BPI will establish an independent committee by involving 18 professional filming associations to select the film workers who will receive the assistance, he added. The committee will start to function from September to November this year, he disclosed.

Source: Antara News

‘2021 K-Culture Festival’ opens with a ‘Campaign Song Creation Contest’ supervised by Chief Director Kim Hyung-suk to overcome COVID-19

Seoul, South Korea–(Antara/Business Wire)- The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea (MCST, Minister Hwang Hee) and Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE, President Jung Kil-hwa) are hosting the ‘2021 K-Culture Festival’ this coming November.

Celebrating its second year, the ‘K-Culture Festival’ is a signature, global Hallyu festival introducing various aspects of Korean culture, ranging from Korean food, beauty, and fashion to K-pop at its core. The festival provides a stage for Hallyu fans across the globe to experience Korean culture and interact with one another.

This year’s ‘K-Culture Festival’ not only puts a spotlight on the fans but also takes a step further to provide a sense of belonging and accomplishment for them under a metaverse concept of ‘FANIVERSE,’ which is a coined term combining ‘fan’ and ‘universe,’ and a slogan of ‘BIT: Bright / Together.’ Moreover, the festival is designed to let the fans transition and change their role from a follower of culture to an actual leader of culture.

On September 13, MCST and KOFICE appointed Kim Hyung-suk as the Chief Director for the festival. Chief Director Kim has been selected based on his pop music composing skills, credentials of discovering and producing top-class artists in Korea, and experiences of leading popular events in the past. As Chief Director, he will oversee the K-Culture Festival, scheduled to be held in November, from the planning stage to managing the event and directing the Campaign Song Creation Contest.

This year’s festival will be held at KINTEX in Goyang for two days from November 13 to 14, with the following programs for Hallyu fans around the world: K-pop concert, and Korean culture experience and exhibition fan engagement programs. In particular, on November 14, the second day of the event, the campaign song produced by Chief Director Kim Hyung-suk and a Hallyu fan will be presented as the finale song amid performances focused on K-pop by famous local and foreign artists with global fandoms.

The first fan engagement program for this year is the ‘2021 K-Culture Festival Campaign Song Creation Contest’ as an effort to overcome COVID-19. With the theme of the digital music contest aligning with the festival’s slogan ‘BIT: Bright / Together’, any global Hallyu fan can participate in the contest. With a total of three winners, the first, second, and third place winners will receive prize money of KRW 10 million, KRW 5 million, and KRW 1 million, respectively. In particular, the no. 1 winner will be given the privilege to work with composer Kim Hyung-suk and release the official music for the festival as well as record the song in collaboration with popular K-pop singers.

In order for a fair judging process, KOFICE formed a judging panel comprised of experts in the pop culture sector so composer Kim Hyung-suk and Lee Hyun-seung, lyricist Yang Jae-seon, producer Junjaman will evaluate based on the following criteria: suitability of theme; originality; balance and completeness; utilization and mass appeal.

Chief Director Kim Hyung-suk said, “Korea’s pop culture is gaining more attention thanks to local and global fans so it’s not an overstatement to say that fandom is at the core of the Hallyu Wave. Aligning with the ‘FANIVERSE’ concept, we hope that the ‘2021 Korean Culture Festival’ becomes a festival where both artists and fans can enjoy and shine together.”

To find out more about ‘2021 K-Culture Festival’ and ‘2021 K-Culture Festival Campaign Song Creation Contest’, visit the event’s official website at kculturefestival.kr.

Source: Antara News