Crosstown traffic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUwjyr17l0M

Fringe (season 3)

The third season started out well but really struggled to keep the interest as the season reached its climax. Although Fringe pitches itself as the being the successor to The X-Files, it is worth noting that The X-Files managed to produce 8 good seasons, whereas Fringe was axed after 4 1/2.

Space-age footwear...

http://nikecraft.com/

Darkest Hour

This was not a particularly good sci-fi film. It was short and not very well done.

My summer hat

Water for Elephants

Watching the elephant getting stabbed by the circus ringmaster was a bit too much for us. As a vegetarian, you just can't sit and watch even simulated animal abuse.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/water-elephants-elephant-was-abused-186634

Game of Shadows

The latest Sherlock Holmes movie was a rather shabby effort. Guy Ritchie's re-imagining of the character worked reasonably well in the first movie, but this sequel lacked any real focus. It reminded me of one of the later Clouseau movies.

Clouseau began life as a cameo in The Pink Panther and then as a fully-fledged character in A Shot in the Dark.  A Shot in the Dark featured Clouseau at his best. The gags were fresh and well-timed. Subsequent films became increasingly poor in standards and quality and truly set the benchmark for what typically happens to sequels. 

Faster, bigger, funnier may appeal to many people, but how about 'different'? A sequel doesn't need to be bigger. It can be better just by being imaginative and intriguing. 

Sherlock Holmes was always about mystery and problem-solving. Ritchie's Holmes is more like a spy than a detective. This is a Sherlock Holmes action movie. I prefer the gravity and acumen of Basil Rathbone.

Key categories of cognitive skills

To define cognitive skills, it's important to know that they include a wide variety of abilities. These abilities are necessary for analyzing sounds and images, recalling information, making associations between different pieces of information, and maintaining focus on a given task.

Here are the core areas of cognitive skills:

• Processing Speed: This is the speed at which your brain processes information. Faster processing speed means more efficient thinking and learning.
  
  
• Auditory Processing: This is the ability to analyze, blend and segment sounds. It's also known as phonemic awareness. Surprisingly, auditory processing is crucial not just for speaking, but also for reading and spelling. This is because when you read, you need to be able to identify the individual and blended sounds that make each word unique and recognizable.
  
  
• Visual Processing: This is the ability to perceive, analyze and think in visual images. Visual processing is imperative for reading, remembering, walking, driving, playing sports and literally thousands of other tasks you do every day.
  
  
• Long-Term Memory: This is the "library" of facts and knowledge you have accumulated in the past.
  
  
• Short-Term Memory: Also called working memory, this skill handles the dynamic job of keeping at the forefront of your mind the information you need to complete immediate and short-term tasks.
  
  
• Logic and Reasoning: This is the ability to reason, form concepts, and solve problems using unfamiliar information or new procedures. It enables you to create correlations, solve problems, plan ahead and draw conclusions.
  
  
• Attention Skills: There are three types of attention skills. Sustained Attention is the ability to stay focused and on-task for a period of time. Selective Attention is the ability to quickly sort through incoming information and stay focused on one thing in spite of distractions. Divided Attention is the ability to multi-task. 

From: http://www.learningrx.com/cognitive-definition-faq.htm

Hubby scores very high in all 7 areas. No surprise?

Raise your hand if you need a faster, smarter brain.

A simple way to define cognitive skills is to describe them as the underlying brain skills that make it possible for us to think, remember and learn. These are the skills that allow us to process the huge influx of information we receive each and every day at work, at school and in life. If your cognitive skills aren't up to speed, no matter what kind of information you try to grasp—or how many times you try to grasp it—the process can feel sluggish and slow.

This is why brain training and tutoring are so completely different. Tutoring re-teaches information you didn't quite grasp the first time around. This is fine if the reason the information didn't "stick" was because the information was presented poorly. But 80% of all learning struggles aren't due to poorly taught information—they are the result of one or more cognitive skills weaknesses. If the reason you didn't grasp the information the first time around is because of a processing weakness in your brain, you don't need to be re-taught the information.

You need to upgrade your brain.Brain training rewires the brain so that it can function faster and more efficiently than ever before. This makes thinking, learning, and processing information easier than ever before.

Cognitive Skills: What are they?

Who hasn't had the frustrating experience of trying to run the latest software on an outdated computer? Or asking a computer with a small processor or insufficient memory to handle several complex tasks at once? In order to handle information and tasks with ease, a computer needs the right hardware and underlying systems (think processor, RAM and hard drive).

If these underlying systems aren't up to speed, it doesn't matter what cool programs or impressive data you load into the computer: Everything's going to run slowly.

Cognitive skills serve your brain in the very same way.

Set The Fire To The Third Bar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfa9yxCpWoA

Backpacks

http://badassbackpack.tumblr.com/

Beyond fashion

Hubby doesn't follow fashion at all.

Here's what happens instead... he gets a idea in his head about something he wants, and then scours the web to see if it exists. This is the only time he goes on the pc apart from work.

He's really good at finding things too. Typically, he locates the item. It exists. And its made in Japan, America or Australia and virtually impossible to get hold of/or outlandishly expensive! And therefore not an option.

Dyed hair

Old women often dye their hair blond in order to suggest the illusion of youth, whilst some young women like to dye their hair grey because it's a fashion of sorts (for them).

In neither case does the effect really work.

Young-coloured hair on an old woman is what it is - young hair on old. It looks silly and undignified. And as for young women dyeing their hair grey... I just can't imagine what that is all about.

Tron: Uprising

Captain Picard is such a great character

Looper

Submarine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IVFfiv6wpY

Birthday clothes

Dark Shadows

Temporally relocated?

 Temporally? As in time travel?

Wow, that's pretty advanced for Durham...

The Maltese Falcon is fantastic

Iconic: Cary Grant is just great

Moonrise Kingdom

Hubby's coat

The Campaign

Sleepy kitten

Snow White and the Huntsman

The Dictator

Touch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvQ_qJYZ-7A

Prometheus

Durham riverbanks

Great anti-war song! Huh!! Good God, yo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01-2pNCZiNk


War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
Ohhh, war, I despise
Because it means destruction
Of innocent lives
War means tears
To thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight
And lose their lives
I said, war, huh
Good God, y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
War, it ain't nothing
But a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Ooooh, war
It's an enemy to all mankind
The point of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest
Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction
Who wants to die
Aaaaah, war-huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it, say it, say it
War, huh
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, it's got one friend
That's the undertaker
Ooooh, war, has shattered
Many a young mans dreams
Made him disabled, bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious
To spend fighting wars these days
War can't give life
It can only take it away
Ooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Peace, love and understanding
Tell me, is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there's got to be a better way
Ooooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
You tell me
Say it, say it, say it, say it
War, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Stand up and shout it
Nothing

Livan's wedding in Sarawak, Borneo

It looks like a great wedding.

We were very keen to go but unfortunately couldn't make the trip.

Miss Minoes

http://miss-minoes.trailertheater.com/

Voyager

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GbOR6K3o20

South Shields

 

Jolene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqYsozeLk4

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-sec

Really good fun French film.

Super 8 - not so seventies

When was Super 8 meant to be set? The music suggests the seventies but some of the dialogue seemed wrong: "dude", "mint", "bogus". Dude and bogus are Bill & Ted terms from the mid to late eighties, aren't they?

Holiday photos

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.402388546467946.92007.100000904121377&type=1&l=1bec47d237

We don't share clothes

Confused Goth and jing (energy expression)

When we were crowded onto a Tube yesterday morning, a quiet, polite man nearly missed his stop when a Goth girl with headphones on didn't hear his understated requests for her to let him pass.

As time ran out and the train prepared to leave, Hubby intervened; subtly jinging the girl aside in order for the man to pass.

The shocked girl pulled off her headphones and delivered a tirade of abuse to her friend about how rude the man had been for flinging her aside, totally unaware that it had been Hubby, and that Hubby was actually still stood beside her.

Friendly

The most friendly person we met in London was a groundskeeper in Kensington Gardens who was politely asking Hubby about his bagua.

I was surprised that the man even recognised bagua. He seemed very interested and came to chat with Hubby twice...

 

Tired, frenetic, anxious people

London residents wear a permanent frown, their eyes are haggard and they seem to lack energy.

Breathing horrendous fumes all day long and the silly pace of life in London takes its toll.

Yes, London has it all... or does it? There's no peace and quiet, and even the parks are toxic.

London is all about mobile phones, iPods and pretending that you're young when you're not. Grandudes and aging cougars prowl the pricey streets.