Keris Stainton's Blog, page 55

Remember Movember

Yes, I know November's almost over, but I've been busy, honest. And I know you all know about Movember too* but this pic is of David's lovely cousin (I guess he's my cousin too?), Peter, who is making a spectacular effort, don't you think? (I'm quite envious – I'd love to grow a 'tache. My one hag whisker is tenacious, but you can't call it a 'tache…)

It would be marvellous if you could sponsor him – not just because he's ace, but because it's a really wonderful cause.

* You do, don't you? "During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men's faces in the UK and around the world. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men." You can learn lots more about it here.

Amazing sheet music doodles

These drawings are just gorgeous. They're by Aleksei Lyapunov and Lena Erlikhs and you can see more here and here. Aren't some people just so talented? (Click to enbiggen and then zoom in – I love the library.)

{via Happiness Is…}

LA Day 3: Keep watching the skies!

 

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I could see bright blue sky and pink clouds out of my window. I hopped out of bed and saw that the moon was still out too – big and white and bright. I got back in to bed, Skyped with my family, ate Toblerone and tried not to cry at how fabulous it all was.

Because the sun was shining, Stella and I went for another wander around the canals. So gorgeous.

 

We walked along Abbot Kinney, hoping to find a nice cafe for breakfast, but there didn't seem to be any open, so we kept going and ended up back at the Sidewalk Cafe on the Boardwalk. Which turned out to be an excellent decision. We had huevos rancheros and listened to a man playing amazing guitar. It was one of those completely perfect moments. Really.

I hadn't been able to decide whether to go to Griffith Observatory or not, but I decided I'd regret it if we didn't and so off we drove. Well, Stella drove and I wittered on and took photos out of the window.

 

Griffith Observatory turned out to be an excellent plan – it was so beautiful.

We wandered around taking dozens of photos and then went to see the Centred in the Universe show in the Planetarium, which was fantastic. (You know that line in Spinal Tap? "Puts things into perspective…" "Too much fucking perspective." That.) Plus there was an excellent view of the Hollywood sign and this time the sun was shining.

On the way back to Venice, we stopped off at Venice High School. RYDELL HIGH!!!! I still haven't quite got my head around the fact that we went there and I'm scared to watch Grease again in case I cry all the way through. Rydell High!!!! (I subsequently found out that the Summer Lovin' bleachers are actually round the back of the school. If we'd known that and seen them I think my head would've exploded.)

Still reeling, we staggered down to the beach to watch the sunset and think about going home. Or, as my brain insisted on putting it: The Sun Goes Down On Our Californian Adventure.

We'd planned to go to Washington Boulevard for dinner, but ended up at the Sidewalk Cafe – our local – again. I had a Paul Auster New York Steak and a couple of margaritas. It was bliss.

And then, from 4.30 the following morning, there was about 36 hours of this…

And a little bit of this…

Bye, LA. You were freakin' awesome.

And so were you, Stella. Thanks so much for coming with me. xxx

Agent H saves the day

"I dreamed I was rescuing all the animals. It was in a train station – I don't know why, cos I didn't even go to a train station yesterday – and there were hundreds of cages with animals in.

"I was in a cage and I had a hat on like Agent P, but it was too small for me. It was Agent M's hat and Agent M is a mouse. Then the evil man who taked all the animals opened my cage and I jumped on his back like Perry on Doofenschmirtz and I stayed there till he was dizzy and he falled over. And platypuses can't even fly! But I flied.

"And then I opened all the cages and all the animals got out. And at the top of all the cages there was the king of the animals and that was the lion. And the King Cobra was there too because they're friends. (Because they're both kings.)"

LOVE these reading posters

{via Chic & Cheap Nursery}

The One for the Money trailer!!!

[image error]

I wasn't sure about Katherine Heigl as Stephanie, but now I'm thinking maybe she'll be okay… Not convinced by Joe, but Lula is EXACTLY as I imagined her. Grandma's a bit young, but it's Debbie Reynolds, how bad could she be?

Mainly I found it quite exciting to see these characters – who I've known longer than I've known my husband – finally coming to life onscreen.

What do you think?

{via Trashionista}

Phineas & Ferb. By Harry.

I know I've posted a couple of times already today, but I couldn't not share this. Harry's drawing of Phineas and Ferb, along with Agent P, Agent T and Doofenschmirtz('s head) (the label that looks like it says 'Ord' actually says 'Dr d'). Brilliant, no?

LA Day 2: The tourist thing

Forgot to mention that after we got back from Warner Brothers, we got a takeaway (Vietnamese) and took it back to the apartment. We felt pretty cool getting a takeaway in LA, I can tell you. And it was delish.

Anyway. Saturday morning we had another wander around the canals and then down to the beach again. We had brunch at the Sidewalk Cafe – eggs benedict with a mimosa. Oh yes.

We walked to Santa Monica and got on the tour bus, which took us back to Venice (we got off and had a coffee, the Germans on the bus declared the Boardwalk to be "disgusting" – heh) and then up into the Hollywood Hills. We saw a bunch of celebrity houses – mainly just the gates, yes, but it was still fun.

The Fresh Prince house! (Bob Newhart lives there.)

Leonardo DiCaprio's house. Fancy!

  

There were cameras in the bushes! And we saw The Playboy Mansion *spits*. And the Beverly Hills sign. It was all a bit fabulous. And me and Stella spent quite a lot of time snorting with laughter after remembering the Twitter joke about how when Will Smith and Jada split up, she was keeping the house and he was going to live with his aunty and uncle in Bel Air. Heh.

The bus dropped us at Rodeo Drive and we went for a wee in the Beverly Wilshire. Oh yes. We're fancy. From there we went up Mulholland Drive (!!!) to see the Hollywood sign. It was v exciting, but we got much better pics of it the next day when it wasn't cloudy so I won't bother posting any here.

The last stop was Hollywood Boulevard, which I hadn't really been looking forward to since it was so seedy when me and D went there in 2001, but it was greatly improved. Me and Stella got a bit tearful looking at the handprints and then went to The Kodak Centre and I had my photo taken with Ian Harding from Pretty Little Liars. Get. Me.

 

The Kodak Centre was yet another place we didn't want to leave. It was just so twinkly and there were so many shops (and quite a few celebrities – we also saw Kym Johnson from dancing with the stars, and people on the bus saw Seth Green). We couldn't get any further down Hollywood Boulevard because The Muppet Movie was premiering across the street and the road was blocked.

 

We'd planned to go straight out to dinner after being dropped off in Santa Monica, but we spotted Third Street Promenade from the coach and it looked nice so we went for a wander there first. It was LOVELY and Stella and I both paid a visit to our spiritual homes: Stella to Sephora and me to Barnes & Noble.

By then we were starved so we went back down to the pier for dinner at Bubba Gump's.

 

And then we got a cab back to the apartment with a driver who did not stop giggling the entire way (he was on the phone, he wasn't laughing at us) (I don't think).

LA Day 1: "Just for fun we run around the Warner movie lot."*

One of the things I was keen to do in LA was a movie studio tour. I flailed around trying to choose one, but once I realised the Warner Brothers Tour featured both Friends and Gilmore Girls I couldn't book it fast enough.

Unfortunately, due to underestimating the LA traffic, we were 20 minutes late, but since customer service is considerably better in the US than it is here, it wasn't a huge problem and we were quickly "caught up" to our tour, with the guide who took us showing us the things he thought we might have missed, like the car park which doubled as the helicopter landing pad in ER.

We went in one of these little buggies, which I've had a hankering to travel in since seeing them in Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Did you ever see that? I showed Stella a bit I found on YouTube and, blimey, it was weird.

Once we were caught up to our group, we went to the props house and had a good look around. Warner Brothers has a ridiculous number of props for use for their own films and also by other studios, so that was interesting. I particularly liked how the guide explained that if props are done correctly, you shouldn't even notice them, but how every single thing in a character's office, house, whatever, should say something about the character or be something the character would have chosen themselves. Works for book-writin' too, I'd say.

I did a silent squee at the sight of the president's desk and seal as used in, obv, The West Wing

And then we went somewhere even more exciting…

It was a rather surreal experience, being in Central Perk. It is so ridiculously familiar, but, at the same time, looked completely different.

Our guide explained how the room was set out to look realistic on camera, but wasn't really a realistic room – with items like coffee cups and paintings getting smaller towards the back of the room and that kind of thing. I stood there thinking, "This isn't right." It really didn't look like the Central Perk in my mind. There wasn't enough room for that table where Joey's interviewed by the woman from TV Guide ("A 'mento'? Like the mint?" "As a matter of fact I do!") or where Phoebe sings. But I took some photos and after the tour I looked at them on my camera and there was Central Perk.

I can't tell you how weird it is seeing it like that on the photos after standing there and thinking it looked completely wrong. Really very strange indeed. (Clever though, obviously!)

From there we went to the soundstage that's used for Chuck. You're not allowed to take photos of a show that's still on the air, but it was so interesting. And it made me want to watch Chuck. If only to see how the view from his apartment is really a curtain (with thinner bits to shine light through for night scenes!).

Me and Stella had been most excited about seeing Stars Hollow and though the guide hadn't planned to go there, we convinced him (by hopping up and down and squeaking, with tears in our eyes). Unfortunately it was dark by the time we drove through and the tour was almost over so he didn't linger, but we both still welled up. Not seeing it properly was, for me, the only disappointment of our time in LA, but it was still so exciting to see it at all. Mrs Kim's shop! The church! The bandstand! Luke's! Miss Patty's! I kind of regret not throwing myself off the little bus and making a run for it.

Last stop was the WB museum, which was really interesting, featuring costumes from various TV shows and movies (Hey, guess what? Actresses are really friggin' teeny! I don't think Harry could squeeze into Ellen Page's clothes) and then we were done – and we went to Starbucks to calm down.

As was to become a theme over the next three days, we really didn't want to leave…

* Anyone else know this? I sang it (in my head) the entire time we were there.

LA Day 1: Venice, baby!

 

We arrived in LA knackered and dishevelled after what was basically a 24-hour journey, but had to head out and see the beach – just to know we were near the beach. It was dark and the beach and Ocean Front Walk were deserted, but we walked to Washington Boulevard, which was buzzing. The bars all looked a bit too busy and trendy for us, so we just goggled for a while and then bought hotdogs, which we ate walking back to the apartment.

Thanks to my friend Anstey, we found the apartment on AirBnB, which I hadn't heard of before, but which turned out to be a goldmine of cheap and fabulous accommodation. Being a bit of a nervy bird, I was a bit worried about using it, but I'm so glad I took a chance because the apartment was wonderful. The location couldn't have been much better, there was free, secure parking under the building (when I looked at hotels, they often charged $25-50 per night for parking, so that alone was a godsend) and the apartment had a kitchen, balcony and all-important free wifi. Plus my bed was incredibly comfy.

The next morning, once I'd Skyped with David, Harry and Joe, we had a little wander around the canals, breakfast in Starbucks back on Washington (I had a spinach and feta wrap. In Starbucks), and then down to the beach. It was mostly overcast, but it didn't matter. The beach was beautiful and we walked out to the end of the Venice fishing pier and then along the edge of the surf. I pointed something out to Stella – a wave, I think. She said, "A whale?" and just as I said, "No!" we both spotted a dolphin leaping over a wave. I think that was the moment I realised the trip was going to be a bit fabulous…

From there we walked along the Venice boardwalk, which I'd been warned was horrible – someone described it as Camden-on-Sea, which is fair – but I really liked it (and, over the next three days, came to like it even more). We went into Small World Books and then walked all the way along to Santa Monica Pier, stopping for a drink and sweet potato fries on the way. Oh and we were both very excited to see Gabourey Sidibe, who we both love in The Big C.

 

 

The only thing we really wanted to do at Santa Monica Pier was go on the ferris wheel and, by then, the weather had cleared up and it was sunny, hot, and gorgeous.

The ferris wheel was just amazing – I could have stayed on it all day – but I'd booked a studio tour so we had to walk back to get the car. We saw Gabourey Sidibe – or Gabby as we can probably call her now – again on the way back. Stella asked if it was her and she said no, but it totally was.

We stopped at The Sidewalk Cafe (next to Small World Books) for a quick burger and then drove out to Burbank, which is where we came a little bit unstuck…

More tomorrow!