DALLAS /PRNewswire/ — Altitude Trampoline Park, the leading family-friendly entertainment franchise, has announced the appointment of Mike Stout as the company’s Vice President of Franchise Development, effective immediately. In this role, Stout will utilize his extensive experience to lead the brand’s franchise recruitment, real estate, and construction initiatives.
“With our former Vice President of Development, Robert Morris, bringing his talents to Altitude’s newest sister brand, The Pickle Pad, we saw the perfect opportunity to bring Mike’s impressive track record and invaluable expertise to the brand. Altitude is nearing 100 locations globally, and we believe Mike’s skills will be instrumental in growing our franchise recruitment initiatives,” said Mike Rotondo, CEO of Altitude Trampoline Park. “The past several years has consisted of remarkable momentum, and to align with our ongoing development, it is crucial for us to expand our leadership team with industry experts, like Mike. He is a seasoned leader known for delivering strong business results and fostering meaningful connections with franchisees, and we’re eager to bring his strategic vision for growth to Altitude.”
Bringing more than three decades of domestic and international franchising experience, Stout has a history of implementing successful growth strategies. His leadership has played a key role in the opening of over 1,500 units spanning multiple continents and industries. Prior to Altitude, Stout held senior franchise and business development roles with companies including Shipley Do-Nuts, Save-A-Lot Food Stores, Papa John’s, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. An expert in the franchise industry, Stout has led development teams in the areas of growth initiatives, franchise recruitment, site selection, and construction. Stout will bring his expertise to Altitude to assist in refining the brand’s growth strategies as the brand continues to expand worldwide.
“I am honored to join Altitude’s exceptional team and to work closely with the brand’s current and prospective franchisees. 2023 was a pivotal year for Altitude, with 25 deal signings, and we are already gaining notable momentum in 2024 with 12 planned park openings,” said Mike Stout. “Altitude’s business model provides an enticing investment opportunity for franchise candidates, offering safe, family-fun attractions, a diversified mix of revenue streams including its membership program and private event packages, and significant growth potential across the nation. I believe Altitude presents a strong value proposition, and I look forward to working with new franchise candidates who are passionate about being involved in their communities and providing a go-to destination for family-friendly fun.”
Altitude Trampoline Park is owned by Indoor Active Brands, a platform company that focuses on indoor entertainment concepts. Most recently, Indoor Active Brands announced the launch of its latest brand, The Pickle Pad, an indoor pickleball playground featuring a chef-inspired restaurant, bar, and yard games for all ages. Established by NRD Capital, Indoor Active Brands utilizes industry experience in the family entertainment and restaurant industries to support and assist its franchisees.
The brand is actively seeking qualified candidates to help grow its footprint throughout the U.S. in Kansas City, MO, Minneapolis, MN, Las Vegas, NV, Denver, CO, among others. To learn more about franchise opportunities and upcoming store openings, contact Kailee Apodaca at kailee@atphq.com or visit www.altitudefranchise.com.
About Altitude Trampoline Park Altitude Trampoline Park is a premier family-friendly entertainment destination offering cutting-edge attractions and Party Packages to accommodate all of life’s most meaningful celebrations. Altitude is the home for active family fun! The brand offers children’s birthday party packages and special events, providing two hours of unlimited jump time and access to all of Altitude’s attractions, including trampolines, playgrounds, basketball, dodgeball, interactive games and more. Altitude’s successful $10 Endless Jumps Membership program allows children unlimited access to the brand’s attractions for a fixed price, offering a great way for families to stay together and play together all year long. Nearing 100 locations worldwide, Altitude parks are centrally located and easily accessible, making it the convenient, budget friendly choice for families in 2024. More information can be found at altitudetrampolinepark.com.
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About Indoor Active Brands Indoor Active Brands is a platform company focused on owning and operating franchising concepts in the indoor family entertainment industry. Created by NRD Capital, Indoor Active Brands currently consists of Altitude Trampoline Park and The Pickle Pad. Indoor Active Brands leverages years of experience in the family entertainment and restaurant industries to provide unmatched support for its franchisees. For more information about Indoor Active Brands visit www.indooractivebrands.com.
SOURCE Altitude Trampoline Park
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Many film historians see ‘Jaws’ as the first true summer blockbuster.
Steve Kagan/Getty ImagesJared Bahir Browsh, University of Colorado Boulder
“Da, duh.”
Two simple notes – E and F – have become synonymous with tension, fear and sharks, representing the primal dread of being stalked by a predator.
And they largely have “Jaws” to thank.
Fifty years ago, Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film – along with its spooky score composed by John Williams – convinced generations of swimmers to think twice before going in the water.
As a scholar of media history and popular culture, I decided to take a deeper dive into the staying power of these two notes and learned about how they’re influenced by 19th-century classical music, Mickey Mouse and Alfred Hitchcock.
The first summer blockbuster
In 1964, fisherman Frank Mundus killed a 4,500-pound great white shark off Long Island.
After hearing the story, freelance journalist Peter Benchley began pitching a novel based on three men’s attempt to capture a man-eating shark, basing the character of Quint off of Mundus. Doubleday commissioned Benchley to write the novel, and in 1973, Universal Studios producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown purchased the film rights to the novel before it was published. The 26-year-old Spielberg was signed on to be the director.
Tapping into both mythical and real fears regarding great white sharks – including an infamous set of shark attacks along the Jersey Shore in 1916 – Benchley’s 1974 novel became a bestseller. The book was a key part of Universal’s marketing campaign, which began several months before the film’s release.
Starting in the fall of 1974, Zanuck, Brown and Benchley appeared on a number of radio and television programs to simultaneously promote the release of the paperback edition of the novel and the upcoming film. The marketing also included a national television advertising campaign that featured emerging composer Williams’ two-note theme. The plan was for a summer release, which, at the time, was reserved for films with less than stellar reviews.
TV ads promoting the film featured John Williams’ two-note theme.
Films at the time typically were released market by market, preceded by local reviews. However, Universal’s decision to release the film in hundreds of theaters across the country on June 20, 1975, led to huge up-front profits, sparking a 14-week run as the No. 1 film in the U.S.
Many consider “Jaws” the first true summer blockbuster. It catapulted Spielberg to fame and kicked off the director’s long collaboration with Williams, who would go on to earn the second-highest number of Academy Award nominations in history – 54 – behind only Walt Disney’s 59.
The film’s beating heart
Though it’s now considered one of the greatest scores in film history, when Williams proposed the two-note theme, Spielberg initially thought it was a joke.
But Williams had been inspired by 19th and 20th century composers, including Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky and especially Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” In the “Jaws” theme, you can hear echoes of the end of Dvorak’s symphony, as well as the sounds of another character-driven musical piece, Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.”
“Peter and the Wolf” and the score from “Jaws” are both prime examples of leitmotifs, or a musical piece that represents a place or character.
The varying pace of the ostinato – a musical motif that repeats itself – elicits intensifying degrees of emotion and fear. This became more integral as Spielberg and the technical team struggled with the malfunctioning pneumatic sharks that they’d nicknamed “Bruce,” after Spielberg’s lawyer.
As a result, the shark does not appear until the 81-minute mark of the 124-minute film. But its presence is felt through Williams’ theme, which some music scholars have theorized evoke the shark’s heartbeat.
Mechanical issues with ‘Bruce,’ the mechanical shark, during filming forced Steven Spielberg to rely more on mood and atmosphere.Screen Archives/Moviepix via Getty Images
Sounds to manipulate emotions
Williams also has Disney to thank for revolutionizing character-driven music in film.
The two don’t just share a brimming trophy case. They also understood how music can heighten emotion and magnify action for audiences.
Although his career started in the silent film era, Disney became a titan of film, and later media, by leveraging sound to establish one of the greatest stars in media history, Mickey Mouse.
When Disney saw “The Jazz Singer” in 1927, he knew that sound would be the future of film.
On Nov. 18, 1928, “Steamboat Willie” premiered at Universal’s Colony Theater in New York City as Disney’s first animated film to incorporate synchronized sound.
Unlike previous attempts to bring sound to film by having record players concurrently play or deploying live musicians to perform in the theater, Disney used technology that recorded sound directly on the film reel.
It wasn’t the first animated film with synchronized sound, but it was a technical improvement to previous attempts at it, and “Steamboat Willie” became an international hit, launching Mickey’s – and Disney’s – career.
The use of music or sound to match the rhythm of the characters on screen became known as “Mickey Mousing.”
“King Kong” in 1933 would deftly deploy Mickey Mousing in a live action film, with music mimicking the giant gorilla’s movements. For example, in one scene, Kong carries away Ann Darrow, who’s played by actress Fay Wray. Composer Max Steiner uses lighter tones to convey Kong’s curiosity as he holds Ann, followed by ominous, faster, tones as Ann escapes and Kong chases after her. In doing so, Steiner encourages viewers to both fear and connect with the beast throughout the film, helping them suspend disbelief and enter a world of fantasy.
Mickey Mousing declined in popularity after World War II. Many filmmakers saw it as juvenile and too simplistic for the evolving and advancing film industry.
When less is more
In spite of this criticism, the technique was still used to score some iconic scenes, like the playing of violins in the shower as Marion Crane is stabbed in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”
Spielberg idolized Hitchcock. A young Spielberg was even kicked off the Universal lot after sneaking on to watch the production of Hitchcock’s 1966 film “Torn Curtain.”
Although Hitchcock and Spielberg never met, “Jaws” clearly exhibits the influence of Hitchcock, the “Master of Suspense.” And maybe that’s why Spielberg initially overcame his doubts about using something so simple to represent tension in the thriller.
Steven Spielberg was just 26 years old when he signed on to direct ‘Jaws.’Universal/Getty Images
The use of the two-note motif helped overcome the production issues Spielberg faced directing the first feature length movie to be filmed on the ocean. The malfunctioning animatronic shark forced Spielberg to leverage Williams’ minimalist theme to represent the shark’s ominous presence in spite of the limited appearances by the eponymous predatory star.
As Williams continued his legendary career, he would deploy a similar sonic motif for certain “Star Wars” characters. Each time Darth Vader appeared, the “Imperial March” was played to set the tone for the leader of the dark side.
As movie budgets creep closer to a half-billion dollars, the “Jaws” theme – and the way those two notes manipulate tension – is a reminder that in film, sometimes less can be more.
Jared Bahir Browsh, Assistant Teaching Professor of Critical Sports Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The culinary world is reeling from the sudden and tragic loss of beloved chef and television personality Anne Burrell, who was found dead in her Brooklyn, New York, home on the morning of Tuesday, June 17. She was 55 years old.
According to a statement from the New York City Police Department, officers from the 76th Precinct responded around 7:50 a.m. to a report of “an unconscious and unresponsive 55-year-old female.” Emergency medical services arrived shortly after and pronounced her dead at the scene. While police did not formally release her name pending family notification, public records and the address provided in the police statement confirm that the residence belongs to Burrell.
A cause of death has not yet been determined. The city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to clarify the circumstances surrounding her passing.
Burrell’s representatives confirmed the heartbreaking news in a release obtained by People magazine, marking a devastating moment for fans, friends, and fellow chefs who admired her bold personality, bright red hair, and fierce culinary skills.
Best known for her work on Food Network shows like Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Worst Cooks in America, and Iron Chef America, Burrell was a standout in the food television landscape. A classically trained chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, she blended expertise with an infectious enthusiasm that made her a favorite among viewers and a mentor to many aspiring cooks.
Tributes from across the food and entertainment communities have begun pouring in as the industry mourns the loss of one of its brightest and most unique stars. More details are expected in the coming days as the investigation continues and the autopsy results are released.
Anne Burrell’s legacy will live on through the meals she inspired, the careers she helped shape, and the joy she brought to countless kitchens around the world.
STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.
This year saw a staggering 130,145 attendees—a new high for the event . That massive turnout speaks volumes about the guest lineup, community spirit, and post-pandemic resurgence.
Legendary Panels & Guest Moments
The Lord of the Rings crew—Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd—dazzled with hilarious anecdotes and audience games .
Simon Pegg delivered a masterclass in storytelling, offering behind‑the‑scenes glimpses into franchises like Star Trek and Mission: Impossible.
Anthony Daniels (C‑3PO) meandered through the crowd answering fan questions, bringing warmth and surprise to his panel .
Community-Led Panels Shine
Fan-run sessions like the raucous Jar-Jarpardy (a Stars Wars–themed trivia panel) won praise for creativity and laughs .
The Not-So-Great
⏰ Panel Time Chaos
Hayden Christensen’s much-anticipated Q&A started an hour late. While some panels remained on schedule, this one left attendees waiting negatively .
🚶♂️ Overcrowded Vendor Hall
The surge in attendance made vendor aisles nearly impassable at peak times—great for sales, tough on foot traffic .
👮♀️ Security Tightening & Restrictions
Enhanced security measures limited cosplay props and banned food/drink items. The 18+ late-night parties, now with stricter checks, were less freewheeling and more controlled .
Mixed Bag Moments
Hayden Christensen Mania
Christensen’s debut appearance in Phoenix was a huge draw. But the set-up—separate ticketing, line-clearing between panels, and delays—created a mixed fan experience .
Heavy Panels Hit a Somber Note
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, present only on Friday, steered his panel toward serious topics like AI’s impact on film and personal reflections—a shift in tone after more light-hearted sessions .
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Final Thoughts
Phoenix Fan Fusion 2025 soared to new heights with record attendance, crowd-pleasing celebrity panels, and electrifying fan energy. But with that growth came growing pains—long waits, tight crowds, and tighter rules.
If history holds, 2026 will bring refinements—better crowd control, smoother scheduling, and more fan-focused fun. Until then, here’s to the highs, the quirks, and the memories made under the Phoenix convention center lights!
Looking for an entertainment experience that transcends the ordinary? Look no further than STM Daily News Blog’s vibrant Entertainment section. Immerse yourself in the captivating world of indie films, streaming and podcasts, movie reviews, music, expos, venues, and theme and amusement parks. Discover hidden cinematic gems, binge-worthy series and addictive podcasts, gain insights into the latest releases with our movie reviews, explore the latest trends in music, dive into the vibrant atmosphere of expos, and embark on thrilling adventures in breathtaking venues and theme parks. Join us at STM Entertainment and let your entertainment journey begin! https://stmdailynews.com/category/entertainment/
Hal Machina is a passionate writer, blogger, and self-proclaimed journalist who explores the intersection of science, tech, and futurism. Join him on a journey into innovative ideas and groundbreaking discoveries!
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