Keris Stainton's Blog, page 36

Visit the National Museum of Film and Television

David and I went to this museum years ago to see This Is Cinerama, as recommended by Bill Bryson in Notes from a Small Island and it was brilliant. A couple of weeks ago, a leaflet came through the door and it had an original Gameboy on it, so that was it: Harry insisted we go.

It’s a really fabulous museum – we were there all day and didn’t manage to see everything (we missed the photography exhibit). We started with animation, which inspired us to buy a Praxinoscope (which you’ll be hearing about) and then went up to the games room. Harry was completely overexcited and then horrified at the sight of Pong - “This is what you had when you were my age? THIS? Seriously?!” We tried playing it and it was really hard – stupid dial controls. I then showed him Frogger, which he found equally disappointing, and then Pac-man, which wasn’t working very well. (Either that or I’m really crap at it.)

David then introduced the boys to his old favourite: Manic Miner.

 

They weren’t impressed.

Harry and I had a go on an early Sonic the Hedgehog game, which we quite enjoyed.

And then we went up to the TV floor, which was just brilliant. I’d love to go back without Joe (or when Joe’s older) and have a good look around. But Joe got to be on TV (we tried to get him to go in Teletubby-land, but there were too many people watching and he went shy).

I think we spent the longest in the internet exhibition (if you don’t include the fantastic shop). Harry got to try out HTML, David recorded an interview with Joe and I mainly looked at Twitter, because it was right at the point that Boris was dangling. The lighting in the exhibition changes dependent on the emotions being expressed on Twitter (?!) and while we were there – and Boris was dangling – it was LOL-pink. Srsly.

Mum in New York (and at the Copa!)

Because it’s the summer hols, practically everything I want to write about is child-related and I don’t want to bore the arse off you, so here’s a post about my mum in New York instead.

In Mum’s suitcase there’s a book and a program for the Rockefeller Centre; a few guides to the World’s Fair; some Empire State Building leaflets; a souvenir folder from the Copacabana; and a program for Golden Boy, a musical starring Sammy Davis Jnr.

Mum’s on the right and her friend – Little Mo, who also went out to Boston to work as a nanny – is on the left.

More from my mum’s suitcase

Make ice lollies

Harry and Joe have been a bit obsessed with making lollies lately. If I so much as skip off to the loo, Joe’s in and out of the freezer, trying to fill the lolly tray thing with water to make “WATER YOYYIES, MAMA!” So I decided we’d try out this recipe from Catherine Newman (my first stop for any and all recipes, but particularly kid-friendly ones).

We forgot the lime, but we had all the other ingredients and Harry helped me whizz them in the blender. (Joe ran out of the kitchen cos the noise was “Too ‘cary!”). We stuck them in the freezer and H and J spent the next four hours saying, “Has it been four hours yet? Has it? Has it been four hours yet?”

After four hours, I gave them a lolly each and took one for myself.

 

Harry declared his “Disgusting.” Joe wasn’t wild about his either. I thought mine was delicious.

I think we’ll try strawberry next time.

What’s your favourite UKYA book?

Over on UKYA (the blog I started with authors Susie Day and Keren David to promote young adult fiction by UK authors), we’re compiling a list of the Top 100 best-ever UKYA novels.

We’ve currently had about fifty novels nominated, so I thought I’d mention it here and also share which books have been most frequently nominated so far:

1. Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

2. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

3. His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman

4. The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness

5. Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott

6. Hollow Pike by James Dawson

7. Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

8. Looking for JJ – Anne Cassidy

9. Torn by Cat Clarke

10. Entangled by Cat Clarke

Nominate your favourites here: Best-ever UKYA novels?

Pin-a-holic

Deep down, I knew it would happen. It’s the reason I’ve avoided it for so long. But I am now in a frenzy of pinning. I love it so. So. Much. Good. Stuff.

But to make it at least vaguely useful, I’ve made boards for Della Says: OMG!, Jessie Hearts NYC and Emma Hearts LA. With settings and inspiration for each book.

Plus I’m going to be starting boards for my WIPs (and future books). There. Now it’s work. (Hurrah!)

52 Books: Holiday reading (part one)

One of my favourite things about going on holiday is choosing my holiday reads. In the past, I made sure I had at least a book a day (since having kids, I haven’t really expected to read a book, but I had to take plenty just in case), but this was the first holiday I’d taken with a Kindle, so that wasn’t a problem. Even so, pre-hols, I went into a frenzy of Kindle-filling, making sure as many reading moods as possible were accounted for. I ended up with about 65 books (I didn’t buy them all especially for the holiday; in fact, I didn’t buy them all at all – lots were from NetGalley) from MG to YA with adult fiction and non-fiction. (More non-fic than all the others put together, for some reason).

First up was Jennifer Weiner’s latest, The Next Best Thing. I loved Good In Bed and In Her Shoes, but I’ve lost track of Weiner’s books lately – I don’t think I’ve read the last three – but I loved the sound of The Next Best Thing. It’s set in Hollywood and based around a sitcom writer getting her first show on air (as Weiner herself did last year with State of Georgia) and I absolutely loved it. So easy to read, with charming, funny, real characters and a fascinating setting. I really must go back and read the books I’ve missed.

I then read Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, which I bought after my friend Kirsty (of Novelicious, so she knows what she’s talking about) called it ‘perfect’. And it was. I didn’t want it to end. It’s a YA novel in the US, but is being published as adult here, presumably because even though it’s the story of two sixteen-year-olds, it’s set in 1986. It’s just wonderful. Sad and funny and sweet.

Last up (for now) is Life According to Alice B Lovely by Karen McCombie, which was indeed lovely. It was my first Karen McCombie book, but it won’t be my last.

Go to Cheeky Monkeys: tick!

I generally can’t be doing with soft play centres, but the boys love them so much that sometimes I have to give in. It’s actually not that bad now that they’re bigger and will play on their own.

Yesterday, I got myself a cup of tea and poached eggs on toast and sat and read while Harry and Joe played. The place we went to has free Wifi, so I could’ve got some work done, but I decided against it. Good to know for the future though.

The boys sometimes played together and sometimes apart – I looked up at one point to see Joe waiting at the bottom of a slide and when Harry flew out, they beamed at each other and hugged. It was worth the price of admission for that moment alone.

Pinterest, printables and jelly beans (oh my)

I’ve been on Pinterest for ages, but I just lurked, never pinned anything. I already have blogs, Twitter and Facebook, Tumblr and Delicious, I really didn’t need yet another distraction. And then, for some reason (*cough*procrastination*cough*), I had the urge to pin. I like that you can categorise things easily. And it’s so much prettier and more user-friendly than Tumblr. And so I started pinning. And then I pinned and pinned and pinned some more. Anyway. You can follow me here.

A couple of nights ago, I was in bed, merrily pinning away on the iPad (David wasn’t there) and I found a link to some printables. I do love a nice printable. The link led me to Mr Printables, which is just THE most gorgeous site. Yesterday, the boys nagged me for jelly beans and I remembered a colour wheel printable…

Which of these kids has cheeks full of jelly beans?

There was a slight problem when a certain person kept pinching the jelly beans instead of doing the colours…

I went and got some fruit to balance out all the jelly beans Joe was cramming in his craw.

I love how his hand is just a blur.

Summer To Do List

Summer, summer, summertime

So the summer holidays officially start today and I have plans. Many plans. But the first thing on the agenda is to “sit back and unwind”… once I’ve tidied the house, which is a total tip.

And then I’m making a Summer To Do List (looking back at last year’s, we did more than I thought we’d managed, but there are still a few things that’ll be on the list again).

So.

We had a fabulous holiday (I’ll be boring you all with that later this week) – how’ve you been?