Ports Thoughts

It's always good to get a few movies in over the Christmas season so Ali and I trundled into town to see King Kong on the big screen at The Odeon in Leicester Square yesterday. The only turkey I want to see is on Christmas day so I had high hopes that Peter Jackson would not disappoint me with his monkey movie and he certainly did not. This is one of the best films I have seen in ages. It runs for three hours and 17 minutes but you would be forgiven for thinking it was half that length. There are occasional moments when the special effects look a bit unfinished, for example the folks running between the legs of the stampeding diplodocus looked a bit "blue screen", but on the whole the effects were a marvel. The monkey itself never looked anything other than 25 foot sliver back gorilla with a range of expression and tenderness that was almost human. But more important than all that emotion crap, he kicks serious butt, for example at one point he takes on and beats three T...

So we enter the last week before Christmas. I would normally now be worrying about having to do all my Christmas shopping. I hate shopping. I don't mean I not very fond of shopping, I mean I really hate it. Many is the year when I have gone out to buy presents for my friends and family, only to return home after many hours of tortured slog with just a couple of DVD's for myself, as was the case in my previous Web Log entry. A quick trip to Ye Booke Shoppe on Christmas Eve has often given the impression that I am uncommonly literate and thoughtful, rather than late and desperate. All change this years though! Up until now I have always gone to my parent in Hull for Christmas. And very splendid it has been every time. However, my twin sister Pink is married to Stew, the landlord of a Pub in Barnes and he always has to work Christmas day so he is never able to join the rest of the family oop North. As a result Pink alternates with Christmas in Hull one year and then with her Hubby...

I was returning from tedious Christmas shopping this afternoon when I caught this lovely view over the cricket pitch at the end of our road. Pink sky over rolling mist. Just glad I happened to have my camera with me. There are many downsides to Winter, not least the cold wet weather, short days and Strictly Come Dancing on the tele. But seeing things like this on a crisp Winters day almost makes it worth it.

The new kittens, Barney and Boo, are excellent in so many ways. But they do have a down side. Obviously there are the normal things like smelly cat litter, scratched furniture, "accidents" and them trying to wake you up in the middle of the night. However, these problems have been reasonably easy to get round. You can get cat litter that is very effective in masking the smell and using litter liners (like bin bags) makes it easy to change the litter. We have given them a number of scratching posts and what not so, touch wood, they haven't destroyed any furniture. Only once have they had an "accident" (not sure which the culprit was) but that ain't bad in two months and we stopped them waking us up in the night by closing the bedroom door. However, there is one dastardly crime that has remained unsolved! Because Boo is much smaller than Barney and is all black like a witches cat, we have always characterised him as being the criminal master mind and Barney be...

Wow - I just did a test to see which Sesame Street character I was. Of course I hoped that I would be like Kermit the Frog since he is my all time hero. He's one cool piece of green. But of course I didn't take it very seriously. Until, that is, it not only decided that I was like Kermit, but it was also more acurate than many of the Myers-Briggs and Jung tests I have done over the years. You can try it here and see what you think These are my results (ignore the bad grammar which results from it being automated); You are Kermit the Frog You scored 58% Organization, 46% abstract, and 76% extroverted! You are mostly organized, both concrete and abstract, and more extroverted. Here is why are you Kermit the Frog. You are somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Kermit is also reasonably tidy. He'll even dress up for interviews. You are sometimes conc...