Comments (3)

By Little Mummy, August 31, 2010 10:50 am

So we’ve had our first shipment from Toys R Us. We’re officially toyologists!

In the first large box was a Chuggington Interactive Railway. As I browsed the price sheet and saw that it retails for £49.99 I was quite surprised, seemed kind of expensive although the train set has some clever audio features (‘smart talk technology’) whereby the trains speak to each other. Extra trains are £9.99 each and there are a few other ‘add ons’ too. The set includes a crane, bridge and roundhouse so there’s no need to buy anything extra to start. The box also includes a huge pack of batteries which was very welcome!

Erin says

I love the trains, they’re so good.

She was busy playing so couldn’t get much out of her!

It’s had a lot of playtime though, several hours over the first week which has dropped off slightly now.

When asked how much out of ten she said she’d give it she said 100! Hopefully now she’s started school she can sort out her ropey maths

A great toy that I think’s got a bit of longevity in it.

Comments (0)

By Little Mummy, August 17, 2010 1:45 am

posted by BigDaddy

Having received the Disney Blu-Ray of Alice in Wonderland to review I couldn’t wait to watch it. Tim Burton is one of my favourite film directors and to me this project was ideally suited to his style and boy I wasn’t disappointed!

The director really does create a visually stunning world which is a true feast for the eyes. Every detail is well thought out and quite clever. For instance in the evil Red Queens palace, every piece of furniture is held up by an animal, birds hold up the chandeliers and monkeys hold the candlesticks. I didn’t even realize that was the case until I had watched it twice!

The acting and voice over performances were all very good with the awesome Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter given a run for his money in the best performance stakes by Helena Bonham-Carter as the wicked Red Queen who is stark raving mad and deliciously evil and her cries of “off with their heads” will be ringing in your ears for ages. I was however not convinced by Alice herself, Mia Wasikowska, who was slightly out of her depth in such esteemed company. Also for movie geeks like me, watch out for Stayne, the Knave of Hearts who is played by Marty McFly’s dad from Back to the Future!!

I think the plot was pretty standard fantasy stuff, with Alice being the chosen one and slaying the Red Queen’s feared Jaberwocky but the film more than makes up for that with it’s outstanding visuals and a truly immersive world in which to loose yourself in, especially on Blu-ray!

In my eyes this more than makes up for Burton’s other “re-imagining” that was the farcical Planet of the Apes and while fans of the Lewis Carroll’s book may be underwhelmed by the so-so story fans of Burton will be happy because it just looks so damn good. Welcome back Tim, we missed you.

3.5 stars out of five

Comments (0)

By Little Mummy, July 22, 2010 7:06 am

On Wednesday I was invited to appear on BBC Radio Scotland’s Call Kaye show to talk about maternity leave, unfortunately I was cut from the schedule due to the never ending Al Megrahi fiasco so I was on today instead.

You can listen in here, I’m on just after the hour mark. I was pretty nervous to start out but ended up quite enjoying myself

Comments (7)

By Little Mummy, July 19, 2010 12:40 am

Guest post by BigDaddy

We all know if you want the coolest, most stylish small car on the market then you buy a Mini, right?? Well not any more thanks to the game changing DS3 from Citroen.

I have had a DS3 for a week to test drive and have loved every minute. The model I was driving was the DSport version and although it was the top of the range with all the cool toys and gadgets (sat-nav, air conditioning, Bluetooth phone connection, etc.) and the biggest engine (155 Brake horsepower, top speed 133mph) priced at around £17,000 it was a bit pricey for my liking but if you were to buy the equivalent Mini it would be around £19,000, so all-in-all not too bad if you have the money. However, there is a DS3 for all budgets and all of them look just as good.

The cool new design is a real head turner, with the sleek good looking body and neon strip lights on the front and sporty white alloy wheels it really stands out amongst the other drab & slightly boring cars in its class. I was unsure about the bright Yellow colour with a White roof but it really grew on me.

Inside the styling was again very funky with the leather steering wheel with chrome inserts was comfortable to hold and looked great. The leather upholstery was extremely comfy and held you snugly in the seat. All the onboard gizmos are very easy to use with a simple interface which is great as you don’t need a degree in computing to work the Sat-Nav! The only disappointment was the quality of the plastic on the dash and glove box which was quite poor and a bit flimsy. Still it’s a great place to be and there is plenty of room for 4 adults and a child (as we proved on a swimming expedition) and the boot is a good size too. With the two door design I would say it would suit a family with kids of four and upwards.

The best thing about this car though, as it should be with any car, is the driving. The driving position was excellent, the ride comfort was superb and the handling was very precise. The power was impressive and the car felt nimble and agile when driving in town while it was comfortable and smooth on the motorway with power all the way though the six gears. So no need for boy racer style clunky down shifts.

Having driven both the Mini and now the DS3 I would say the Citroen wins in almost every category. So if people want the best badge in the small car market, buy a Mini but if you want the best small car on the market right now, the DS3 is the way to go.

Comments (0)

By Little Mummy, July 16, 2010 12:29 am

A lady from BBC Worldwide contacted me last week and asked if I’d like to review the Kerwhizz Magazine, Erin loves the show on Cbeebies so I was interested to see what she’d make of it.

Most magazines we’ve bought up until now have been a bit of a waste of money. Erin hardly ends up doing any of the activities and it ends up strewn around her bedroom floor where I inevitably end up standing on the obligatory plastic toy that decorates the front cover, resulting in much almost effing and shizzing (my personal sweary alternative).

So it was with my usual sceptical attitude that we sat down to take a look at the Kerwhizz magazine. It’s set out in ‘Rounds’ like the quiz rounds off the show, and each page has a number of tasks, quiz questions and puzzles to complete. We’ve been doing a round or two each day and are just over half way through. Erin’s got right into doing the rounds and counting up her point score at the end.

I think we’ll buy Kerwhizz magazine again as I found it quite educational and a fun activity to do together, not unlike some of the workbooks we’ve bought in the past. Erin loves it and has been asking to do another round each day!

To coincide with the magazine launch there’s also an online Kerwhizz Game which is a fun way to pass half an hour. There’s 10,000 copies of the magazine to be won along with five annual subscriptions over the next couple of weeks, so get kerwhizzing!

Sponsored Post

Comments (0)

By Little Mummy, June 22, 2010 1:34 am

We were invited a couple of weeks ago to build a bear, Erin was beside herself and had already planned out several outfits for her bear-to- be before we’d even got there. Lovely Yasmin took us through the whole experience which started with a little introduction and the chance to choose an unstuffed animal or bear.

Off to the stuffing machine and more choices, first how hard or soft to have her chosen rabbit, what type of heart to place inside her, and to voicebox or not to voicebox. Finally after much deliberation Yasmin was allowed to sew her up.

The shop had hundreds of outfits and accessories to choose from, in fact I wasn’t sure how Erin would choose but I needn’t have worried she knew exactly what she wanted – white summer dress and satin knickers.

On to the computer to create a birth certificate and name her rabbit. Erin chose the name Taleeya, I won’t lie it took Yasmin and I a few minutes to figure out how to spell it! So Taleeya the rabbit was born

Erin thoroughly enjoyed the experience and was chuffed to show everyone Taleeya!

Taleeya would have cost £28, so not cheap but nice for a treat. Erin still has ‘Emily’ who we gave her for her 1st Birthday. Thanks to Yasmin for making the experience extra special.

You can also book build a bear workshop parties now!

Comments (2)

By Little Mummy, June 14, 2010 12:46 am

Guest Post by BigDaddy

O.K. I admit it, I didn’t go to see Avatar in 3D. I didn’t even see it in the cinema. I watched it when my friend loaned me his Blu-Ray. I couldn’t deal with the hype of it all, it pushes me away from movies rather than towards them.

So I settled down with high hopes from this technologically groundbreaking movie and wasn’t disappointed……with the technology. The movie part on the other hand was a different story all together, or not as the case may be!

There is no doubt that Avatar looks great, sounds great and has developed movie making techniques massively but in doing this James Cameron sorely neglected the most important things in film……a good cast and a good story.

Avatar is all mouth and no trousers. The plot is wafer thin and you can guess what is going to happen within the first five minutes. At no point did I catch myself wondering what was going to happen next because it is so predictable. Also if you have seen Dances with Wolves you have seen Avatar, just with less blue people in it.

The Characters are so stereotyped it’s laughable. Idealistic good looking hero: Check. Grizzled battle scarred Army badass: Check. Evil Corporate money grabbing git: Check. Hard as nails Latino lady: Check. I wouldn’t have minded but the cast just can’t pull it off with any conviction. Sam Worthington is so wooden I would have confused him with one of Pandora’s trees if he wasn’t a 7ft tall blue guy for most of the movie, Sigourney Weaver may as well have phoned in her performance for all the good she was. But the worst performance was Stephen Lang as Col. Quaritch, hamming it up to eleven and spewing out jingoistic lines like his life depended on it. Cringe worthy!

The Na’avi themselves were just an incarnation of Native Americans, Vietnamese or Iraqis while the American war machine tries to smash them out of their habitat to ravage the natural resources. Boring boring boring! If I wanted all this Anti-American metaphor crap I would have just read the Daily Mail!

All in all Avatar is a pretty set of pictures with no substance. It may be the highest grossing movie of all time but it is a poor movie with good F/X (Littlemummy’s note: that’s ‘effects’ for us non movie buffs). I shouldn’t have been surprised though as it was Jim Cameron who brought us Titanic! Tell us again Jim, what happens in this movie about the most famous ship sinking ever? Like I said, predictable.

2 STARS

………………………………………………………..
Mum Blogger eBook Competition

and the winner is..Melanie. The correct wordcount was 17483!

Comments (0)

By Little Mummy, May 7, 2010 12:51 am

Chippidy Doo Daa’s

And they be good These little pitta chip snacks are a taste sensation, no word of lie, run to the shops now NOW I tell you (I reccommend the salt and vinegar or chilli flavours)

Snack a Doodle’s

Great name but I’m afraid they fell short in the flavour department. Reminded me of snack a jacks which I don’t like either.

Reebok Easytones

Sceptical, moi? Well yes I was actually. Trainers that firm your calves and buttski just by going about your normal daily business? Surely not..

Erm I’m feasting on my words because they work, that’s right THEY WORK, but they’re eighty quid a pop, but THEY WORK YEEEEEEHAAAAA

Educational DVD’s

Now You Know About is a series of entertaining films about famous people from history aimed at children.

I thought these were quite good, engaging and short each animated film is packed with facts and information on figures like Isaac Newton and Vincent Van Gogh.

Erin seemed a little underwhelmed but I think at four she might be just a wee bit too young, I’d recommend these for six to eight year olds and I think they’d make a great homeschooling resource.

Tag – The amazing Touch Reading System

The Tag Reading System is a pen that reads the words from the books and brings the stories alive with singing and sound effects. Erin loves hers and we’ll definitely be buying some more books. Ideal bithday gift this one at just over £20.

Highly recommended, one of the best things we’ve been sent in the children’s toy department!

Comments (2)

By Little Mummy, April 17, 2010 3:36 am

by BigDaddy

After being sent the Blu-Ray of Up by Disney I could not get it in the player fast enough. I had already seen it in the cinema in 3D so I was eager to see how Blu-ray would match up. I was also very excited because Up is my 2nd favourite Disney/Pixar movie (after Monsters Inc)

At first glance, Up is the least conventional animated movie in recent memory. The hero is not a fish, monster, toy or superhero. He is a grumpy old man named Carl Fredricksen a helium balloon salesman, a widow who lives alone in the house he once shared with his wife which is now under threat from an office block development. See, not exactly classic Disney so far! In a brilliantly subtle opening sequence, we see a young Carl meet his best friend and future wife Ellie due to their shared interest in adventure and love of famous explorer Charles Muntz. We take an uplifting, yet ultimately sad and at times traumatic trip through their life together, dealing with hopes & dreams (they want to travel to Paradise Falls, South America) life (building their home) and death (Ellie’s miscarriage & death in later life). Still not getting that Disney vibe? All of this is packed into the first 7 minutes of the movie with such craft and skill you will be almost emotionally drained. I am not afraid to admit I was choking back the tears. Even the back-story of Russell (Carl’s young wilderness explorer companion on his adventure) is filled with sadness. His dad isn’t around much and Russell really lacks a father figure, someone to be proud of him.

I think this is what makes Up such an interesting movie, it has very ‘grown up’ themes and while it has lots of action and imagination (not to mention top drawer animation and talking dogs) to keep the kids happy I think it’s a very different movie to watch for us adults. It really makes you think about what you are seeing and how it makes you feel. It also gives you great hope.

Ultimately, after the adventure is over, the talking dogs are forgotten and the flying balloon house is a distant memory I will remember one thing about Up. This is a movie with lots of heart and it made my spirit soar.

Comments (12)

By Little Mummy, April 3, 2010 10:54 am

This is a guest post by BigDaddy

As I’m not a ‘serious’ gamer and have only ever had the Arcade version of the Xbox (no hard drive) I had never considered joining the massive online community that is Xbox Live. We were sent a new Xbox 360 Elite console with 12 months Gold membership and a few games to play as part of Littlemummy’s role as an Xbox ambassador. The gold level membership requires a subscription (£39.99 a year) and for this you’re able to download HD movies, games, demos, add-ons for games you already own, music and so much more. Some of this content is free and some costs Microsoft points which you can buy online or in shops. This is quite a good idea for us parents as it stops the kids going crazy with your credit card! You can preload the points and when they are gone that’s it. There are also parental controls which you can use to restict the download of content which you feel is inappropriate for your kids. You can even restrict how long your kids can play the Xbox for by inputting a set play-time limit.

Silver membership is free but the content you can download is limited (no movies).

The main reason to be online that I can see is to play games against friends over the internet. Gone are the days when you and your mates huddled around the portable TV in your bedroom, squinting to see the small section of the screen which was yours while tripping over all the wires from the extra controllers you had to plug in. These days all you need is an Xbox and a broadband connection, sign up to Xbox live and you’re away. This is truly great fun and gives games a new lease of life in multiplayer mode as you can play people you know or people you don’t from all over the world. That is quite remarkable and really good fun.

You can also use Xbox live to keep up with your friends on Facebook and Twitter and it also lets you see which of your friends on these sites have Xbox Live accounts. I use this quite a lot as it saves powering up your laptop/PC all the time and it’s cool to see photos on your TV (yes, I am a geek!). You can also use it to stream Sky TV through your Xbox (either on a pay-per-view or subscription basis).

All in all I would say Xbox Live is well worth getting and paying for to maximise your console. I will definitely be renewing my subscription when it runs out. The only downside of the whole thing is that the console itself is not Wi-Fi capable, a wireless adapter is available but is quite costly (£59.99). This is the ONLY thing the Xbox rivals have to their advantage as the Xbox Live online is far superior experience to any other, I highly recommend it!!