Durham

New beginning

Hexham

Sky Captain?

Dieselpunk

New Bond watch

Upturned collar

Wearing a shirt with the collar upturned indicates either that you're an Elvis impersonator or a complete tool.

Gold hair

Many older ladies dye their hair GOLD these days. This is an interesting choice.

The shade of gold has an unnatural hue and would look out of place on a young child, let alone an old person. I'm not sure what the desired effect is but the hair looks so freaky on a wrinkled old face.

It looks like a wig.

Winter gear is on sale now!

June is the best month for buying Winter outdoor gear. You just have to plan ahead and not get caught up in seasonal fashions. Winter 2011/2012 fashions are now selling at half price.

Think ahead.

Malkovich makes my skin crawl

El Cid

Wow! What a film...

It has everything you could possibly ask for from a movie.

For a highly rewarding Sunday afternoon movie you can't beat Charlton Heston.

Thank U

Exploding potato bomb

Sale!

We try to buy all clothing, bags and footwear on sale. This saves a considerable amount of money. We can sometimes pick up a great coat at less than half price because its old stock and the seller wants to shift it.

It is very rare that we buy anything at full price.

Leeds

Fang

I found a wolf teddy bear - most unusual. He makes me think of my hubby.

The Artist

Yes, this film sort-of kept our interest but I must confess that I'd sooner not have watched a silent movie.

Another Earth

This was pretty engaging and odd.

I couldn't figure out if it was the photographer girl from I Am Number 4 but it wasn't.

I wouldn't want to watch it again.

Transvestites?

If a man dresses in women's clothing, he is considered to be a transvestite.

Yet, countless women these days dress like men and even have a man's haircut. Is there a word for this? Are they also transvestites?

http://www.internalkungfu.co.uk/body_language.htm

Crazy, Stupid Love

Films about failed marriages are pretty popular but pretty depressing. I couldn't really figure the message with this film.

Ryan Gosling seems to be appearing in quite a few films of late but I really can't figure out why. His character acted like he thought he was James Bond but actually came across more like a quite effeminate metrosexual.

The Descendents

The Descendents was another good George Clooney movie. I don't like all his films but some are pretty interesting. This one was set in Hawaii and everyone dressed not unlike Malaysians do.

Chroncile

We liked Chroncile. It started off echoing Cloverfield in terms of how the movie was presented, but Chronicle was far superior with some genuinely funny moments.

It was a very enjoyable film.

Updated my photo blog

http://photosofdurham.blogspot.co.uk/

The Way

We watched The Way, a movie about the El camino de Santiago pilgrimage.

It started off pretty well but devolved into a 'baby boomer' grandude backpacker lifestyle movie. Yawn...

Backpacks

Shoulder bags can be really uncomfortable to wear, especially if you have lots to carry, and you're small... A backpack is a much better option; healthier too!

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