We went to see the new King Kong on Kiloh's birthday. Kiloh was the only kid who agreed with me that it wasn't as good as the 1933 movie, but even she thought I was nuts when I said that I preferred the 1933 special effects. I just think that you know where you are when you're looking at 18-inches of metal covered in rabbit skin and you never get those queasy feelings that you do when cgi goes a bit wonky. The main reason the 1933 version is better is because it's perfectly formed, compact storytelling and perefectly paced. There were very few moments in the new one that I didn't enjoy experiencing (although I've never been much into fight scenes and tend to fall asleep until they're over) but it could never have the effect on you that the original did (I've been comparing notes and have found quite a few people who had a similar experience to the 10-year-old me who was up all night talking about it with my brother after my first viewing). Anyway, last night we babysat Clem so that Dug and Nicki could go to see it. They came home early as they couldn't take any more and walked out before the return to New York. Their opinion of the cgi was extremely negative, so maybe I can still convince Kiloh of the superiority of metal and rabbitskin.

Meanwhile, Santa brought the kids a PS2 with a King Kong game. I've been struggling with my spatial ineptitude on Skull Island. You know you're in trouble when you're helpfully advised to 'look behind you!' and you're not quite sure how to do it.

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I would've sent this post at the weekend but you know.

We went to see the original King Kong at the NFT on Saturday afternoon. I had forgotten that it was the best film ever made. Kiloh gave me a hard time for saying so (this was an allusion to Mark Kermode - I'll tell you later). We then watched Four Weddings and a Funeral when we got home. I'm a big Mike Newell fan so I was delighted that the kids had insisted we rent it. Big excitement when we got to the scene at the NFT and then on the river at the South Bank. I've got a theory that the most obvious skills of Mike Newell as a director and of Hugh Grant as an actor are the same thing really, being all about timing, which is about judging what your audience needs to have happen when. Also one of the main things you need to get right in teaching.

Clemmie came out with us on Sunday, but the poor wee thing was suffering from a bit of a cold. Nicki came and rescued her at the end of the day.

I'm not sure what to make of the symbolism as I went out on Sunday to buy our Christmas tree under the almighty black cloud that was spreading over us from Hemel Hempstead.

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bbc - 15 minute musical

You can't miss this tragic tale recited by the simple peasant dog Labradore (available on listen again until Tuesday).

An early theme of this blog was the dodginess of some of the things David Blunkett was saying. Who knew how the tale was destined to unfold?

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BBC Archive Hour: Lennon - The Wenner Tapes

You need to know that you've only got one more day to listen again to John Lennon telling us what 'big bastards' the Beatles were and stuff.

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Had a great time last night with Robbie and Dug at the John Martin Gallery

Robbie had four wee pictures in the show, which was Into The Jungle - a homage to Rousseau

It was a nice show with some great work, a good mix of styles, not too many people (you could move around), men in gorilla suits, African drummers, classy cocktails and nibbles. And one of Robbie's pictures sold while we were there.

The audience were appropriately beautiful and stylish, and they coped well with having three big scruffy blokes galumphing through the middle of them. I've made a note to get a gorilla suit before we go to see King Kong.

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Just had an email from a student who finds it a bit odd that lecturers would be bloggers. 'Nice odd, though'.

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Sorry to be advertising again, but the Festive 15 CD (yet another tribute to John Peel) that comes with the latest Uncut is great. I counted 7 tracks I've not listened to for far too long and everything on it is great. My nostalgia module is taking me back to a rainy Reading Festival where the man himself was cheering us up with tracks like 'take the skinheads bowling' and to the Forum where Half Man Half Biscuit were a bit less fun to my ears than they were on record.

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