2011 | Family Affairs and other matters

“NEW YEAR’S EVE” FILM REVIEW

Friday, December 30, 2011

Took my 18 year old Australian guest to see “New Year’s Eve” last night on the recommendation of my 16 year old daughter. I was massively disappointed. For a star studded cast, not only did they all look awful, their lines were stilted, it was predictable, over complicated and spectacularly unfunny. Such a shame – [...]

THE BAFTA KIDS VOTE 2011

Friday, November 18, 2011

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HURRY UP! The British Academy Children’s Awards are taking place on 27th November and I’ve been asked to post the following video of children’s presenter Barney Harwood issuing a call to action for kids to vote for this year’s ceremony. Here we go then:- Pass it on x

WORLD TRAVEL MARKET 2011

Thursday, November 10, 2011

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It’s the last day of the World Travel Market event at Excel today. I went yesterday and loved it. Nothing like having a meeting with a wonderfully exuberant American women from the Texas, Chicago, Florida or Las Vegas stands talking about all things ranch and festival and city and then strolling over to the Africa [...]

AMY CHILDS AT BRITAIN AND IRELAND’S NEXT TOP MODEL 2011 SHOW (and um, some male dancers)

Monday, October 31, 2011

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The event my daughter and I went to yesterday was Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model event at the Excel centre and she was in her element - met her favourite person of the moment - Amy Child's formerly from "The Only Way Is Essex" but now on her way to becoming the new Jordan. There she was signing boxes of stuff and selling her clothes and here she is with my daughter looking rather gorgeous:- Here she is in one of her own designs:- A sneaky shot of her killer shoes:- It was a strange event. My daughter obviously loved it as it was full of all things pink and girly - anything to do with nails, hair, teeth whitening, clothes, shoes, jewellery, make-up and so on - there were lots of stalls selling clothes a bit more cheaply than usual, but I couldn't really quite see the point of the whole thing..... We watched a catwalk show which featured the Next Top Model's that had been in the previous show - my daughter knew them all - but judging by the photographs I took I was far more interested in the male dancers - purely for educational purposes you understand - the one that happened to feature most widely in my photographs had very defined muscles. Very good for learning the origin and insertion of each muscle (honest). Just look at him though. What a splendid specimen:- (I think this is the moment he clocked me):- Same one - with his clothes on:- Trapezius muscle definition (and interesting tattoos):- Here is Jade, the winner:- Some girls!

TOP TIPS FOR TWITTER USERS

Sunday, June 26, 2011

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Kerry Jean Lister from Digital Outlook gave out some brilliant Top Tips about Twitter. Here they are for anybody else interested:- 1. You control the content – it’s a tool for sharing information – don’t get in to many conversations, it’s not very interesting for everybody reading. 2. Be strict about who you follow. Make [...]

CYBERMUMMY CONFERENCE 2011

Sunday, June 26, 2011

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Yesterday's second Cybermummy conference was a huge success. Bigger and better than their first one last year and clearly enjoyed by all. I met up with lots of my invisible friends and learnt a huge amount from the various workshops provided. Sarah Brown did a little speech in the morning:- Later Rachel Johnson talked about how bloggers had been responsible for her losing 12 columns in quick succession and warned of the dangers of writing about your nearest and dearest (but with no intention to stop herself at any time soon it seems). Here she is with my friend Jennifer Howze, one of the founder members:- There were loads of sponsors and lots of swag to give away. This was my favourite stall though - details about holidays in Mauritius - which appealed more than the baby wipes and nappies I have moved on from I have to say:- We managed to get a group photo of 5 out of the original Disney 7, with the gorgeous Sarah Hodson from Disney:- I'm going to tell you everything I learnt about Twitter now because I have clearly been doing it all wrong......but I'll put it on a separate post.

MATHS A LEVEL 2011

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

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Holy shit. I know it’s all relative and that if I sat down in front of a paper that expected me to do basic fractions I’d probably cry, but my son’s A level paper makes no sense whatsoever – apparently it was REALLY hard. I can’t even write out most of the questions because there [...]