From your Arts Correspondent...

Having spent all of half term holed up in my little room in the attic battling with the book while my mum stepped into the breach as Entertainments Organiser, I decided to try to redeem myself at the last minute by taking the girls to the cinema on Friday evening.

We went to see Stardust. I went with an attitude of magnanimous self-sacrifice, feeling that sitting through two hours of girly nonsense was the least I could do after a week of relentless neglect, and secretly planning to fall asleep in the middle, once the popcorn had run out. Anyway, this cunning plan was blown out of the water by the fact that the film was fab.

Treats for the mums included a totally all-star cast, featuring a squillion astonishingly top-notch actors popping up in cameo roles, a rattling good script with some glorious lines, Robert De Niro—twinkling of eye and swashbuckling of form, and brooding, black-clad Mark Strong as the sexy villain. Oh yes, and maybe, just maybe, Charlie Cox was another tiny reason why I managed to stay awake and glued to the screen too.
Hell-o. Have I ever mentioned that I can’t resist a man in boots and a frock coat?

The plot centres on Michelle Pfeiffer’s character, one of a trio of witch sisters, needing to capture Claire Danes and eat her heart in order to regain their lost youth and beauty. Well, you would wouldn’t you, if it took you from this...

to this....

OK, so morally the murder and cannibalism aspect is a bit shady, but surely justified it if you end up looking like that ('Because you're worth it'...). Anyway, it was two hours of glorious gothic fantasy, romance and laughs. (And, in my case, the best part of a packet of Maltesers.) The only problem was I came out feeling that I’d enjoyed it far too much for it to count as child-indulgence.
(Hence the crisps and chocolate cake when we got home. )

Oooh-- and today I've got a post up on the iheartpresents blog. Please go and visit and make me look like I have some friends!