Moving Tales New App Release “To This Day” Based on Viral Video

Vancouver, Canada – Moving Tales, the producers of innovative poetic 3D animated story apps and enhanced Ebooks, including the world-wide bestselling ‘The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross’, have released their newest iPad app, a collaboratively animated spoken word poem by Shane Koyczan. The To This Day App is based on a viral video of the same name, that has had over nine million views. This powerful anti-bullying themed iPad App is now available for free from the App Store, where it is listed in the New and Noteworthy section.

“We are very proud to be part of this important endeavor, bringing this anti-bullying message to an even larger audience. Shane’s poem is powerful, the animation wonderful, the music subtly effective, the message universal and timely.” says Moving Tales founder Matthew Talbot-Kelly. “The poem’s legacy combined with the unique capabilities of our app engine, which include the random selection of alternate animations and allowing the user to record their own voice to be played with these animations, means that there are literally thousands of unique experiences of the poem. Significantly, the app is available for free.”

The To This Day iPad App is based on a powerful anti-bullying themed spoken word poem, written and performed by Shane Koyczan, and animated by dozens of different animators. Every viewing and experience of the poem in this free app is unique thanks to randomly selected animated clip variations for most of the poem’s stanzas. Other features include the option to record your own version of the poem to be played with the animation, share your favorite stanzas with your friends via Facebook, Twitter and Email, enjoy the text in English, Spanish and French, link directly to the ToThisDay project web site from within the app, and much more.

“My experiences with violence in schools still echo throughout my life but standing to face the problem has helped me in immeasurable ways.” says poet Shane koyczan. “I wrote To This Day, a spoken word poem, to further explore the profound and lasting impact that bullying can have on an individual. Schools and families are in desperate need of proper tools to confront this problem. We can give them a starting point… A message that will have a far reaching and long lasting effect in confronting bullying.”

“There is a great collective spirit behind the To This Day Project.” says Talbot-Kelly. “Produced by Vancouver’s Giant Ant, many people collaborated on the animation for the hit video, which forms the basis for the App. We are especially excited to be able to include so many additional animated sequences in the app as compared to the video version. We hope young people and old can take heart from the poems important message.”

Shane Koyczan is both a writer and spoken word virtuoso, an extraordinary talent that has blown the dust off of the designation “poet”. In a realm where poets rarely intersect with stardom, the Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics introduced us to Shane Koyczan. With a collective “wow”, we found the poet of our generation. And we weren’t even looking for one! The world took notice when the video for Koyczan’s influential, anti-bullying poem, To This Day went viral in early 2013 with over 9.1 million views and counting. By turn hilarious and haunting, Koyczan’s TED talk was received with a standing ovation. Powerfully engaging and authentic in attitude, Koyczan’s explorations are relevant to our times in the way that Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Downie and Leonard Cohen are to theirs. But unlike the musicians that he’s often compared to, poets rarely infiltrate pop culture. Koyzcan emerges in a new wave of 21st century poetry that dares to belong to the people and speak directly to them in their own voice.

Koyczan is perhaps best known for his award winning spoken word performances. With his rhythmic verse in high gear, he navigates his audience through social and political territory with a furious honesty and a tender humanity that has brought audiences to their feet in New York, London, Edinburgh, Sydney and Los Angeles, to name a few. Shane has received 5 star reviews for his performance at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, is the Winner of the US Slam Poetry Championship and the Canadian Spoken Word Olympics. His published books are: Visiting Hours (2005), Stickboy (2007) and Our Deathbeds will be Thirsty (2012).