The most recent episode of Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged YouTube series focused on the fun and future-proof idea of solar-powered trains. Electricity-powered trains are front and centre at the moment, with the ongoing works to upgrade the length of the Great Western Railway line, but this episode talks of a short track that goes just a little bit further. Based in Australia, where there is a little bit more sunshine …

I always start these anniversary posts with the warning that "I don't usually like to celebrate such things but here I am going to anyway." I have realised, though, that it's something to do with the ten year anniversary of things. That's the one I like because it's a nice round number and because it seems like a long time. Ten years is the one that Film Watch is celebrating. …

The little gem of a show that is Travel Man returned last week, and it debuted a new four-episode run with the wonderful guest star Dawn French. In case the show has passed you by, it features Richard Ayoade taking a celebrity guest on a whirlwind 48 hour trip to various holiday destinations. Previous episodes have featured Aisling Bea in Budapest, Jon Hamm in Hong Kong, and Paul Rudd in …

Beats 1, Apple’s live streaming radio service, has a lot of great content. It can be hard to keep on top of it, and I’ll admit it does lean towards the cooler end of the music spectrum than I would place my own listening habits. However, what they do well is getting a variety of guest presenters in to host a show and therefore airing lots of different tastes and …

Just a celebratory post to have reached 100% completion on the main Spider-Man game. I think this is the only game that isn’t Tomb Raider that I’ve played to completion. And yet somehow there is still more to do with three DLC expansions to get 100% on. It’s not like Marvel to have more content than it’s possible to keep up with!

If you pay any attention to TV and culture on the internet, you’ll likely have heard people raving about Fleabag. I’m sorry to say that I’m just going to add to the adoration here, because it really was that good. I have to admit, though, that I only caught on to the Fleabag bug recently, and revelled in the joy of binge-watching it. I actually have to go one step …

There’s always a big push these days to get people up and active and try and stem the sedentary lifestyles we have grown so used to. Given the many initiatives that are out there, I was wondering whether it wouldn’t be useful to have a celebrity or two making online videos that help try and show people how a) accessible and b) fun training and working out can be. It …

It’s always been a surprise to people that, despite being someone who avidly followed Formula One for a good ten years, I really don’t care much for cars. Recently someone asked me what car I drive, the vehicle I have sat in pretty much every day for two years, and it took me about twenty minutes to remember. I’ve always loved the freedom and independence being a driver gives you, …

It doesn’t matter what you think of Apple or their offerings this week from the latest announcement event. This video, that kicked off the reveal of their TV+ programming, is special. Simple and pure, somehow moving and momentous, really digging into the wonder that is creativity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrdbT4hpwBk I could watch it over and over, I really could. And whilst we’re on the subject, I’m fascinated to see what Apple’s foray …

A while back I stumbled across the YouTube channel of Call Me Kevin, a gamer who posts ten minute videos of how brilliant he is at doing badly. The commentary makes it all, of course, hilarious thoughts as he manages to create sprawling Sims houses with grumpy adults bumping into each other, or horrifying zoos with enclosures stuffed to the brim with hippos and the occasional keeper trying to keep …

I’m retiring my Life List for a few reasons but mostly because it’s been around for ten years and I’ve not achieved very much of it. The reasons behind having a list are still good, I do think it’s useful to have a bit of inspiration for achievable goals, if you need it. But I’ve found, probably since I started the list, that it’s not inspiration I’m lacking, it’s time. …

Learning Swift programming isn’t easy, but I must admit the language has stuck with me far more than any other attempts I’ve made to learn programming languages in the past. I credit much of that to the 100 Days Of Swift schedule that I mentioned last time – a brilliantly structured path that gives you code snippets to learn, example apps, and challenges to keep practicing. With that in mind, …

I recently finished watching Russian Doll on Netflix, the show created by Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler, featuring the former as Nadia who relives the same night over and over. It’s Groundhog Day-style drama and although it was a bit of a rollercoaster to get there, by the end, I really loved it. Here are a few thoughts: The good thing about reliving the same time period over and over …

Whilst I am up to date with The Good Place (makes a change!), I hadn’t realised there was a podcast from the makers that dated back to the end of series one. Recently I heard some chatter about how good the podcast was, and so I quickly subscribed and started catching up. The chatter was right, this show is really good. Obviously you should only listen if you have watched …

A couple of weeks ago, BTSport's tennis coverage switched to the latest rounds of the Fed Cup - the self-styled World Cup of tennis wherein players team up according to their country and battle it out to win the tournament and be best across the globe. The British team were playing on British soil for the first time in several years, and were doing pretty well, so it was some …

My Swift journey so far has been stop/start in nature, but recently it has become one of those hobbies that occupies a significant portion of my mind, one that I think about a solid 90% of the day. That's good, really, because it's a useful skill, coding, and one I am still very much at the early stages of grappling with. I'm never quite sure how much detail to go …

So I've just binge watched all six Rocky films in a row, not all in one day, I'm not a maniac, but without watching other films in between. Somehow despite having the least interest in, and probably actively disliking boxing, these films grabbed my attention and became something of an obsession. The drama is brilliant. The dialogue nutty. The training montages legendary. What I loved most of all, though, was …

I can’t remember how I stumbled upon the podcast Everything is Alive but I know I listened to the first episode about a can of cola and found myself oddly moved and disturbed at the same time. It’s not often something has that effect on you. The premise of the show is simple but weird. Our host interviews inanimate objects, except they are not as inanimate as you might think. …

Mr C and I don't go much in for the Valentine's Day thing but something happened this week that it's important to document. After years of searching (more than a decade), I have finally found OUR SONG. It turns out, this On the Record thing that I've been studiously documenting for the last 3+ years has finally been worth it. This week, Mr C selected Huey Lewis & the News …

It took just over a month, but we finished Spider-Man on the PS4 and what an adventure it was. Those early days were brilliant, working our way through the main mission, the side challenges and generally just swinging through the city. The game got gradually harder, as you might expect, but it was also more rewarding. There were three things, however, that really dipped our love of the game and …

Weezer surprised everyone last week by releasing a covers album stacked full of proper tunes. I had a listen through and it's good, although I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of covers for the sake of it. Many of their versions sound just like the originals, so then you're left wondering exactly what the point of it is. Having said that, their version of No Scrubs is fabulous, …

Catching up with a recent Graham Norton Show episode, The 1975 were on to promote their latest album and tour and whatnot, and I believe they might have told the greatest story that's been on that show. Matty Healy, talking on behalf of his bandmate, described to Saoirse Ronan and assembled guests a situation regarding one of her movies. Adam came into rehearsal ages ago, once, and he said to …

An interesting piece about film credits aired on Marketplace last week, discussing why the in- and out- credits on films have gotten so much longer than previously. It explained why this has occurred and started with a look at the closing scroll on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. --- "The credits last a whopping nine minutes and thirty seconds, that's an addition of more than three minutes over the original 1993 …

This game just keeps on delivering. It's getting harder as we progress, obviously, but then you get moments like this that are so worth it!

One of the things that brightens an otherwise dull January is the return of tennis. Things in tennis-land go quiet in December, once the finals are all complete and players are taking a well-deserved rest. But the WTA swings back into action in January, and we are already saturated with coverage. Brisbane, Auckland, Shenzhen and some bonus Hopman Cup were all available on our screens this past week. With a …

There are lots of articles written at this time of year looking back on the months gone and looking forward to the next twelve, and I’ve been intrigued by the variety of “best upcoming films” that have been touted. How many of them am I looking forward to? I had a browse through a few articles (Wired and The Guardian, in particular) and picked out the films that stood out …

Before we get into the album adventure for 2019, it’s worth a quick reminder of why this project even started and if we have made any progress on the original premise. Three years ago, it all kicked off when a conversation on Peter Kay’s Car Share caused a real life debate in our household. I was on Kayleigh’s side, that you could have whatever album you wanted as your favourite, …

I've seen a lot of debate recently about the usefulness of new year's resolutions - are we putting too much pressure on ourselves? Are we pushing for hard to achieve activities when we should be revelling more in what we have and who we are? I think there can be an element of this and I can respect those who don't care for a resolution one way or the other. …

When we purchased Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we opted for the season pass to include a handful of future downloadable content releases. Two additional tombs were available by the time we settled down for our Christmas break, and it was 100% our plan to raid them over the festive period. Except, then, Sony had a sale and we bought Spiderman and now it's like Lara who? I had heard …

For the second year in a row, Mr C's top five lists have been limited to songs rather than both music and films - and that's partly because we spent a lot of the year watching 80s movies, and partly because he could only think of Black Panther as a stand out watch. I don't think film-land is so bad but hey, this is his space to get listing so …

The BBC aired a one-off hour-long comedy this Christmas, starring Stephen Merchant and Asim Choudry as an unlikely duo travelling hundreds of miles to find a sought-after toy for the former's kid, and featuring plenty of humour and emotional moments along the way. I loved it so much, I wished I was Film Watching it as I went along - then I realised, I can sort of do that anyway! …

Hooray and eek in equal measure, it's time for a round up of my year in albums! Another 100 albums listened to and enjoyed (for the most part), hours of songs consumed and pretty much the same amount of time deciding which belong in my top five of the year - and which, if any, can break through into my top ten. I feel like it's been a good year …

I had to put my 'learn Swift' project on the backburner for the last few weeks but I'm catching up again now we have a few festive days of freedom. That's what most people do, right? Spend Christmas afternoon digesting mince pies and learning how to code? Last time I wrote about finishing up the first course on Ray Wenderlich's iOS path and moving on to the second which was …

So, I've never cooked Christmas dinner before. To be honest, my experience of cooking roast meat of any kind is limited. A chicken or two, maybe a ham at some point, and that's the limit. I've really tried to up my cooking game this year, though, as we start to focus on our health a bit more than we have previously. With that in mind, when HelloFresh started advertising their …

Somehow, I managed to miss the fact that Amazon launched their new Wardrobe service for Prime members a few weeks ago. Instead, it only popped up when shopping for something else, but it was very quickly apparent this was something I wanted to try. Shopping is not one of the most fun experiences for me, particularly for clothes or shoes or anything like that, so whatever can make that easier, …

When I read Not Going Out were doing a Christmas Special episode, I was very happy. Love this show, and any excuse for some more of Lee Mack's fun wordplay is good enough for me. When I read on to see it would be a live show, then I was in two minds. Live shows are good, the additional adrenaline of 'will they, won't they mess up' is an intriguing …

I’d never even heard of Taskmaster until this latest series, and it only crossed my path because I follow James Acaster on Twitter, and he was a participant in the latest series. I like Acaster’s work, and some of the clips and gifs I’ve seen have made me wonder what all the fuss is about. I had to do a bit of digging to find where I could watch this …

I was aware of the hype surrounding Netflix's recent horror offering, The Haunting of Hill House, but I wasn't sure I was prepared for it. I quite like a good horror but haven't watched anything in that genre for such a long time, I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous about my nerves. However, a friend recommended it and thus I was convinced to at least give it a …

Earlier this year, I worked my way through Swift Playgrounds – Apple’s easy-to-use educational tool to teach you the basics of the Swift language – and to celebrate, purchased a quite adorable R2D2 that you can program with that self-same language. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite make the leap in my head from the playgrounds I had been messing about with to the more tangible efforts with a toy, and the …

When we watched the new Tomb Raider film back in July, I was quite inspired by some of the behind the scenes footage that showed Alicia Vikander getting super fit to play the role. I wanted to be super fit like that too! Get to the gym, lady, and sort it out! It worked, for a bit. But how funny, then, that it’s also the fault of Lara Croft that …

I mentioned before how the household is looking to make healthier choices, and that involves me spending a bit more time in the kitchen than I have been doing over the last few years. I’m not the best cook, but I do quite enjoy the process and whilst my presentation skills are essentially non-existent, I can occasionally whip something together that tastes nice. At the moment, my mealtime focus has …

We’ve seen four episodes of the new series of Doctor Who and that’s long enough for me to cast my opinion on the whole thing. Heck, it only took a couple of episodes to know I wasn’t keen on Capaldi, but where do I stand on the Whittaker era? Good news: I love it! It’s fresh, fast, funny, approachable, likeable, different and new. Here are five slightly more specific thoughts: …

My Life List needs a bit of tender loving care, having been neglected recently, but before I do that I wanted to write a quick post about starting your own list. I think Life Lists are not as in vogue as they were a year or two ago (let's be honest, the world falling apart is probably a bit distracting), but I still think they can be useful and inspiring. …

You’ll have seen, no doubt, the recent news that a fresh batch of Top Gear hosts have been announced. If I’m honest, I had forgotten that Matt Le Blanc was leaving and when I saw the new names, that wave of disappointment hit me all over again. The last series of Top Gear wasn’t perfect but it was good and entertaining and had a spark of what made Top Gear …

There's quite a few neat things that have been introduced in Apple's latest software update for iPhones and iPads, but today I've been thinking about the new Screen Time feature. It's on my mind today because Sunday morning is when the report pops up and tells you just how well you've managed to waste your week. As a concept, Screen Time is a really good addition. More information is always …

So, we were watching High Fidelity and yes, maybe had had a drink or two along the way. This bit happened: Which I naturally forgot about. So this came as a surprise: And now I have this: It’s a real, physical book because it wasn’t available in Kindle format. And I still went and bought it, which is unusual for me and can mean only one of three things: I …

Our third and final South West Coast Path adventure of the summer was all about cliffs. The theme of our adventures so far has been spontaneity and this was another one that we hadn't really planned out. It was the kind of trip that saw us driving along a coast road and eventually just deciding to take the next left turn to end up at a beach. Unfortunately, the beach …

It feels a bit incongruous to write about the beautiful sunny days of summer when autumn has more than arrived, but I want to catch up the final two stretches of South West Coast Path we walked this year, before settling down to make plans for the next batch. So, after finding the start of the path, our next adventure was another that came about by accident – we hadn’t …

Apple’s recent update to iOS12 has brought with it plenty of changes, some are good, some are bad, some are genius, and some make your life better without you actually realising it needed it. I have thoughts on a few of the interesting new features but I’m kicking off with something that is a subtle change but I’m really loving it. I’ve talked before about how much I like the …

The third release in Tomb Raider's recent reboot emerged into the wild last month, and I can honestly admit to being completely obsessed with it. I've enjoyed the previous two games, but it's taken me a while to get fully to grips with this new Lara and her rather more complex adventures. Everything is rather more realistic, far more brutal, significantly more graphic and eventually, a lot more fun, than …