The Smurfs

Recreations of classic cartoons from my childhood have been hit and miss (eg Transformers was awesome, Astro Boy sucked) but The Smurfs is definitely a hit.
Why did I like it? I guess it had just the right mix of adult and child humour and, you have to admit, the Smurfs are so damned cute!
Thanks to Narrator Smurf we are told the backstory, that Smurfs are three apples high and live in a secret village where they are safe from the evil Gargamel (Hank Azaria).
When he attacks the Smurfs run for cover and six of them, thanks to Clumsy Smurf, are sucked through a rare portal and wind up in New York City.
The Smurfs encounter advertising executive Patrick Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris), who is soon to be a 'Papa', and his wife Grace (Jayma Mays) and their presence changes their lives. Gargamel pursues the Smurfs through the portal and sets out to capture them.
I just had a ball watching this. Call me a big kid if you like but it was hilarious, from Gargamel's obsession with emerging from clouds of steam, the Smurfs rocking to Walk This Way, I could go on.
I reckon little kids will enjoy all the blue but won't get a lot of the references.
For example, Smurfette was voiced by Katy Perry and at one point she said 'I smurfed a girl and a liked it' which is a reference to Perry's song 'I Kissed A Girl'.
I also liked a couple of the Smurfs that were mentioned, Complementary Smurf (who 'always has such nice things to say') and Passive-Aggressive Smurf who for some reason Smurfette missed while in New York.

Probably not for everyone, but I loved it. An 8 out of 10.

Ten years ago

Just like most people, I'm acutely aware of what I was doing 10 years ago when the world changed.
It wasn't anything particularly important, so I thought. I was with a friend and we were watching my appearance on Wheel Of Fortune, that he had missed, having spent the earlier part of the evening listening to a talk on 'Significant events of our time'. True.
How could we have known that easily the most significant event of our generation, and I'd say a few before us, was about to unfold before our eyes.
Half way through an episode of Wheel my friend received a phone call - 'turn on the TV' was the message. We didn't turn it off for hours.
Part of me wanted to rush into the newsroom to watch it unfold but, of course, you couldn't look away and a 40 minute drive wasn't going to happen.
I still don't know how I feel about the whole event even 10 years later. It has been called 'The Day Reality Changed Forever'. Certainly the world is not the same place. People feel less safe, like there is always something around the corner waiting to strike again.
I sincerely hope nothing strikes.
I'm afraid of a number of things but I can't imagine what was going through the minds of the people stuck in the towers - some of whom chose to jump out of windows - and if they even got a chance to comprehend what was happening.
I hope I never see such a callous act of inhumanity again.