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Wednesday, 1 March 2023

Welcome To Drusilla's Park!

You see that Sesame Street train? That came from the wild place in London or somewhere known as Drusilla's Park. I haven't heard of this place before, but I looked up where Tina, Bluey and Bingo's imaginary friend, should live, and viola! There it was, Drusilla's Park. Not only does it contain lots of cutie animals, but it also contains rides of any kind. Soft play centres, Thomas The Tank Engine, Hello Kitty...I invented a Sky Kids area for this wildlife park. Shame they haven't got the budget to do so.

Tuesday, 28 February 2023

This Video Sums Up All I've Been Through Today...

Also, I'm not doing stories anymore. I'm creating a paracosm. It's an imagined world of my own making...but with the same things I know and love.

Monday, 27 February 2023

Fluttershy's Cottage

Meet Fluttershy. She wants to invite you in for tea and tell you some home truths about what she has been up to in Ponyville.
And did I mention? I found out Fluttershy's favourite kind of music is African acapella, and there's where her favourite music group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, comes in.

Hooray, It's Norman Picklestripes!

Just when you thought he was Factory Create's outsider...

When he was only available in America...

When he was never going to make it to the UK...

YES! HE DID!

So let's welcome my new favourite Sky Kids show, Norman Picklestripes. It contains the same smooth stop motion animation you'd expect to see on Factory Create shows like Scream Street (my other favourite!) and Clangers, but each colourful episode features lots of fun characters who get together to have problem solving adventures. I just recorded an episode, and boy was the song segment fun! It really feels like you're watching a stop-motion Broadway musical. It feels like they're really performing on stage! My favourite parts of the episode I recorded was Norm and his friends dancing with smiley-faced pizzas with arms and legs, and the shadow puppet bit during the song segment in the B story, which actually looks like the makers of a Baby First show about shadow puppets telling stories collided with the team behind Strange Hill High to make it.

So, let's list down my favourites so far:
Strange Hill High
Scream Street
Clangers
Abney & Teal
In The Night Garden (CBeebies Live-Action Version, Not The CGI Sky Kids Version)
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Beep & Mort
And finally, the one and only, all-singing, all-dancing...

*drum roll*

NORMAN PICKLESTRIPES!!!

Saturday, 25 February 2023

Bertie & Belle

I'm sooo excited! I'm getting princess spa treatment, which will save Mum from having to do my hair! So, I'm thinking about spas and hair salons at the moment, starting with this one from Essex. It's named Bertie & Belle - no, not Dirty Bertie and Beauty & The Beast, but the hair salon for kids! It has nail painting, lots of little cars for kids to sit in, including an awesome Batmobile, TVs they can watch My Little Pony, Bluey or Scream Street on, and video games! Plus, there's a bug busting shampoo with a superhero on it. Can life be any better?

Friday, 24 February 2023

Cleo Unwrapped

So how does it feel to become a TV star, Cleo?


It’s been great being on TV - during CBBC’s ‘No Scratch That Watch iPlayer’ year, it was bad because I was away from Luke and Resus during Season 2 - but still, Season 1 is fantastic! Luke, Resus and I were friends ever since we met for behind the scenes action on Scream Street. Speaking of, there was one time when CBBC wanted a marketing campaign for Scream Street. I told them that they were looking for a promo similar to teaser trailers for Lilo & Stitch. Luke invades Junior Bake Off in one promo, in another Resus invades Operation Ouch and my one is all about invading The Next Step.


Fast forward…


“Hi-ya!”


“What? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”


CRASH!


“Oh. Sorry.”


“I’ll be in my trailer. Get your own show!”


“Her name, is Cleo.”


“Ready, Cleo?”


“Been ready for centuries.”


“ROOOOAAAAAARRR!!”


“And she’s coming to our neighbourhood. Scream Street - premiering this October only on CBBC.”


…then in 2016, there was this one time when we wanted to spoof an Eau De Rochas commercial just for the sake of making Scream Street a place of quiet when kids got home from school to watch telly…but the BBC found it really inappropriate.


Scream Street is so fresh.


It’s sensual…


…it’s soft.


Scream Street - new episodes air this May on CBBC.


Then there came the distressing bit. Due to filming on Season 2, there was this one episode where I went on a camping trip with Luella and Six, and the producers said they can’t take Luke and Resus with me. Now my friends - my real friends, a werewolf and a vampire - are angry with me because I have befriended other girls.


It seems this episode is very hard to watch, alongside other episodes of your second season, Cleo. That begs the question: who do you prefer hanging out with? Luke and Resus, or Luella and Six?


Both. Because no matter how much friends love each other, long time friends still love you no matter what. That goes to Luke and Resus, I still hang out with them, even though they take the mick sometimes, and that annoys me. Even when I was hanging out with Luella during the end of that Summer break, I couldn’t stop thinking both of us would play together as one. If I were you, I would say that I have made new friends, but kept the old.

Thursday, 23 February 2023

Tummy Ache

Days at home feeling sick are the best - tell that to the time I went out with a friend of mine. I got so sick I was about to barf, and I dry heaved all over the grass! I had to be sent home with plenty of food and water as a result. Also tell it to Pinkie Pie. She got so sick from eating too much chocolate cake that Mr and Mrs Cake had to send her to bed too. She vomited loads!

Scream Street Joke Of The Day - Mummy Chips

What do mummies eat chips in?

Embalm cakes.

Over Two Rainbows

It was a brisk Spring morning and Sophie the little yellow bear and her canine siblings Diesel, Luna and B.B Bone were outside in Buttercup Meadows enjoying the weather. They were playing a game of hide and seek. Sophie was a very good hider, but since it’s her turn to find her big siblings, it was a game of win or lose as she was an exceptionally good seeker. The teenage canines easily hid in the long grass, but Sophie can easily get down on all fours and pounce onto Diesel, the white dog with green spots. You may call him a Dalmatian as such, but his species is what’s known as a Lime Tree Mutt - a species of white dog with green bits. Luna was too much of a goth to be found, so she just sat there texting away on her phone. When Sophie leapt onto her, she dropped her phone in the mud and scolded her for being so reckless: “Oh great, my phone’s all muddy! Now I have to go home and clean it up! It’s all your fault, Sophie!” And she stormed away.


Still, Sophie and Diesel had plenty of time to find B.B Bone, who delighted in being found as Sophie and the ever-cheeky Diesel leapt on top of her. B.B had pink fur, which meant she came from a dog species known as the Strawberry Labrador -  a dog species with pink fur and dark pink floppy ears. Suddenly, the siblings heard a twinkling sound from nearby. Sophie peered out from the long grass and looked closer. She couldn’t believe her eyes! There was a bridge crossing over to another magical world! It had a rainbow path on it, so it was bound to be magical.

 “Come on, guys, I wonder where that leads to?” said Sophie. 

“I hope it’s not something dangerous,” worried B.B. 

“Dangerous? Prrrrfff, I live for danger,” laughed Diesel. He took her by the paw and dragged her towards the bridge.


As Sophie stepped on it, she felt the whole bridge glow with the light coming from her yellow feet. She continued walking, and the rainbow turned bright yellow as she crossed. Diesel had a go, then B.B, and the rainbow turned green, then pink with every step they took. They then looked at a bright yellow sign with glittery pink writing:


“Welcome to Unicorn Land! Hope your visit will be the most magical one yet!”


At that moment, a strange tree stump with thin twig arms and huge legs and feet came running up to them. 

“Hello, sorry I was trate.” said the stump. 

“Who are you?” asked Sophie. “Are you a brownie?” 

“Tro, silly,” said the stump, “I’m Twigsworth, the wise trelder of Unicorn Trand!”

 “Wow!” gasped the siblings all at once. 

“A talking stump?” asked B.B, “I must be seeing things.” 

“No you’re trot!” laughed Twigsworth, “I’m here to trake you on a trourney through this tragical land!” And, leading the friends across the colourful, magical land, he burst into song.


Over the rainbow and through the woods,

Across the Buttercup Fields,

There’s a land full of unicorns

Guaranteed to make you cheer!

There’s blunicorns and yellownicorns

And pink and green ones too

Whoever comes into this land

Will find a unicorn for you!

Unicorn Land, Unicorn Land,

Such a pleasant place,

Wherever you go a smiling face

Peace among the unicorn race!

Some unicorns have magic,

Some have wings that learn to fly,

Whoever comes into this land

Will find a unicorn for you and-


The singing dispersed as they heard someone crying.

 “I think it’s coming from the river.” said Diesel. 

“Come on, let’s see who’s crying.” said Sophie. They raced to the source of who was crying, and found a yellow unicorn with a purple mane and tail sobbing by the river. Bubbles were popping all around her horn, meaning something wasn’t right. 

“What’s wrong?” asked B.B. 

“I’ve lost all my magic!” wept the unicorn. 

“You haven’t trold us your trame yet!” said Twigsworth. 

“My name is Lemonade,” said the unicorn, “And I’ve used up all my magic in one single week. When bubbles pop around my horn, it means that all my magic is gone. Now I won’t be able to use it again!” “Maybe we can help you find your magic.” said Sophie. 

“Yeah!” agreed Diesel and B.B at once.

 “Ah, but it will be a trifficult journey,” added Twigsworth. “Or is it trot difficult? I can’t tremember.”


“How do we get Lemonade’s magic back?” asked Sophie. 

“You have to go to the Candyfloss Tremple and complete one truzzle and one riddle. On completing them, you will find a tragical flower that’ll tring Lemonade’s magic back with one blow. The trollen will merge with her trorn and make the bubbles surrounding it trisappear.” 

“Then what are we waiting for? Come on, let’s go!” shouted Sophie, and she lead Lemonade, Diesel and B.B towards the temple on the mountains far off.


Meanwhile, back at home, Luna was cleaning her phone with a wet wipe. 

“Spent £120 on it,” she grumbled, “I even paid for it with my own pocket money. What to do?” Sophie’s mother came into the kitchen, and saw that Luna was upset.

 “What’s wrong, Luna?” asked Mum. 

“Sophie made me jump, and as a result she made me drop my stupid phone into the mud.” Sophie’s mum looked exhausted. “Oh dear, now it’ll take me weeks to clean up that phone. You should go and apologise to Sophie right now.”

 “How can I apologise?” asked Luna. 

“Well, it’s just like my mum used to say: when someone is cruel to you, you can let someone apologise.” Luna ran up to her mother and hugged her. 

“Thanks! I’ll do it right away!” And she dashed off out the door back to the Buttercup Meadows, while Mum proceeded to clean Luna’s phone.


At the mountains, Sophie and her friends finally made it to the Candyfloss Temple…but the door was tight shut. No matter how hard they tried to lift it up, it was too heavy and too rocky. It even made B.B’s paws hurt a little, so it was a lucky escape from those attempts when Sophie saw a puzzle column with three shapes that looked like a stick of candyfloss, a balloon and a lucky clover. 

“It’s really simple,” said Sophie, and she placed the candyfloss piece into the right place. B.B had a go next, and put the balloon into its hole. With each puzzle placed into the right box, the temple door shifted so it opened slightly. When Diesel put in the lucky clover piece, the door shifted open to reveal a dark tunnel. Lemonade lead the nervous friends into the temple, but just as they were midway through the tunnel, they heard the door bang shut behind them. 

“Oh no,” whined Lemonade, “Usually I’m good with things like this, because my horn glows in the dark. Now that I’ve run out of magic, I can’t seem to light it up.” 

“I know what we can do!” said Sophie, “We must all join paws - and hooves - and make our way along in the dark, until we find a light. Ready?” 

“Ready, Sophie!” they shouted. 

“Then hold onto me!” she replied.


They all joined paws and made their way along the tunnel. It was really dark and scary, but still, it smelled of candyfloss. Sweet, fluffy candyfloss like you’d find at the fair. Suddenly, Diesel could see something in the distance. “Light ahead, Sophie!” he warned. 

“Thanks!” Sophie called. 

“That’s not a light,” said Lemonade, “That’s the entrance to Gried’s throne room.” 

“Who’s Gried?” asked Sophie. 

“He’s a fierce part goat part wolf person, always ready to let you answer one of his riddles. He’s the one who’s got the magical flower.”

 “Oh,” said Sophie, realising. When they got to Gried’s throne room, they saw an ugly abomination with a husky’s body and a goat’s head staring at them from his enormous throne. Beside him was a beautiful purple flower. 

“It is I, Gried, the guardian of the Candyfloss Temple,” he introduced.

 “Can you help me get my magic back?” asked Lemonade. 

“Only if you answer a riddle. You have ten strikes. Should the first strike be passed, then you’ll never have the flower. Here it is:

Everything’s magic, except for one,

He’s always looking out for fun,

With a pipe in his hand and a cherry red face,

He comes from a magical fairy place.

What is it?”


Everyone thought hard about who the cherry red-faced person might be. Luckily, Diesel wasn’t short of answers, and called out 

“Elf! He plays a pipe, and has a cherry red face when he feels happy!”

 “Right answer,” said Gried, and everyone cheered as he got off his throne and gestured for them to come towards the flower. Lemonade was of course the first to come up to the flower, and she blew on it. At once, magical golden pollen flew out of the flower and attached to her horn. The bubbles disappeared, and her horn began to glow with magic once again. 

“Hooray again!” everyone yelled. 

“So you’ve got your magic back, eh?” said Diesel. 

“Well done, Diesel, you’re the best brother ever!” laughed Sophie, and Diesel gave her a bear hug (no pun intended). 

“I’m so glad you managed to get the flower,” said B.B. “Now let’s go back to the field and test out your magic.”


When they went back into the field, Lemonade aimed carefully at an apple tree. 

“I’m going to turn all these apples into lemons, just like my name suggests,” she said sneakily. She focused, and a bolt of magic burst out of her horn. “Trello,” said a voice. It was Twigsworth. 

“I’ve come to treck on how your tradventure we-” But suddenly, the magic of Lemonade’s horn turned him into a giant walking apple! 

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, what have you done?!” shouted Twigsworth angrily, which sent everyone laughing away.


When Sophie and her brother and sister returned to the Buttercup Meadows, they were pleased to see Luna looking very relieved. 

“Luna! You’ll never guess where we’ve been!” cried Sophie, “We’ve been to a magical land on the other side of the rainbow bridge!” 

“Rainbow bridge…a-ha.” said Luna. 

Sophie was scared at first, and then Luna said, “I’m sorry I was hard on you. It was all my fault. I never should’ve brought my phone to our hide and seek game.” 

“It’s okay, we all make mistakes,” said Sophie, and she and Luna hugged like they’d never seen each other before.


All the siblings joined hands and made their way back home, with Sophie telling about her adventure all the way. So, if you ever see a bridge with a rainbow on it, you never know, it might lead to a land where a unicorn might need your help to find her magic, just like Lemonade.

Wednesday, 22 February 2023

Scream Street Fact Of The Day - Stingy Jack

The name of a carved pumpkin, a Jack O'Lantern, comes from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, whose wandering spirit carried a turnip lantern containing an ember of coal.

Gold Star! The Making Of Jungle Dogs

The following blog post is based on real events. Except that some new characters are to be involved...ones from my latest developing project, Jungle Dogs.
My brother Resus and my Uncle Alston and Aunt Bella took me to the creek for a walk. They told me it may be good for me to get out and exercise, and when I asked Resus for a piggyback, he refused to let me ride on his shoulders, because he knew it was a time for independence for me. We stopped a few times to take some drink breaks, but then I discovered it was a bit like I'm A Celebrity - except we're surrounded by Christmas trees we have to protect for environmental conservation.
We pretended all the other people in the creek were contestants on the show, and Resus told me all about it, from the Bushtucker Trials to the gold stars they earn during challenges. We met two teenage dogs, cautious By and glam girl Sam, who told me they loved I'm A Celebrity and they'd make good characters for my story, which I thought up as Jungle Dogs. Resus and I did a gold star handshake to prove we did just the task!
While in the car watching the rain pour down, Resus and I discussed more details for my story, including stars inspired by the Elements Of Harmony, stars which wielded courage, power, friendship, harmony and wisdom. We also talked about Anansi the spider, and he made for a great character named...well, Anansi, a tarantula who helps Sam and By when they get kidnapped and taken to the jungle. We also talked about how the contestants of I'm A Celebrity are always fed rice and beans, which is also an African meal and not like baked beans at all.
While we waited for the fish and chip shop to open, we went to the park, where we met two other dogs who agreed to star in the story: Lester, By and Sam's schoolteacher who always wears a cone around his head and has a shaved side, and Susie, an obese black Labrador who eats a bagful of sweets and cakes every day. They agreed to star in the story as long as they overcome the fear of my character Anansi.
Finally, we made it to the fish and chip shop.
After a challenging day in the woods, the tempting smell of fish and chips wafted in the air. "Mmmmm, I'm hungry!" I said. "I know," smiled Alston. "Four fish and chips." "With mushy peas!" piped in Resus. "Such appetites," laughed Bella. And with big dollops of tomato sauce, they all tucked into the tastiest, reddest, ketchupiest meal ever known to vampirekind! "Much better than blood," the vampires said.
Resus and I were beginning to feel sick after our trip out, so we both relaxed with sore ankles and legs, and Resus told me a story from his book, Horrid Henry's Krazy Ketchup. What a proper way to end the day.

My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas & A Pony For Every Season

Fancy that! Two My Little Pony DVDs at the same time! Both worlds collide, eh? Ha-haaaa! Anyway, this blog post from this Canadian mother brings both of my secret worlds together: Furaha's friendship with Minty in the do-it-for-me version of Me, You, And..., and my friendship with Zecora in the Sybil & Friends stories. When you're friends with a pony like Minty or Zecora, ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING, is possible!!!