NGC had this adorable documentary about penguins. Penguins are my favourite kind of bird. Fine, eagles and stuff look graceful and blah but if everyone in the world watched penguins, there would be a lot of awwww instead of ripping other people to shreds. I think the cutest thing about penguins is their walk. It's this sort of resigned yet determined plodding waddle. It says, "Man, I'm stuck in this godforsaken place. Oh well, I'm gonna look for some fish." They waddle while holding their flippers slightly away from their bodies, like a tightrope walker. Maybe they're afraid they'll slip on ice. And when a bunch of them slide on their bellies they look like little kids going for their first sleigh ride. They have really tiny grey fluffy chicks that end up growing almost as big as their parents, but still depend on them. When that happens, the parents look at their giant fluffy monstrosity with a kind of bewildered expression and start their resigned trudge all the way to the ice edge. Penguins have no shoulders, so they always look like they're hunching, in a dejected but peservering attitude.

Perhaps its because they know they're not getting any Christmas presents, Santa being on the other side of the world.