Yesterday, I talked about the concept of diving headfirst into a new subject of your choosing and just going for the learning ride. This is something I’ve struggled with before, and particularly when it comes to history. I didn’t enjoy history that much at school, but have since found a fondness for finding out how the world has come to be in the position it is in today. The trouble …

There’s something brilliantly wonderful and overwhelming about diving into a subject you don’t really know a lot about. I’ve done this a few times: with films, with music and most recently with sport – getting fully involved with tennis, and this month, jumping feet first into Formula E with a new podcast and everything. At first, it seems totally overwhelming. There’s so much you don’t know, an entire history that …

I always think November is a colourful month. Autumn is really kicking in, so the trees are rapidly changing hue and shedding their leaves. There are leftover Halloween themed items around, so orange and purple and green are scattered on doorsteps and in shops. Plus, of course, firework night – as annoying and loud as it can be – has a main promise of lighting up the sky with various …

I’ve recently been using Apple’s Bluetooth earphones, otherwise known as AirPods. They weren’t my first choice – I don’t really enjoy the look of them, and was reluctant to get rid of my sturdy camouflage black wired earphones. Unfortunately, I upgraded to a new iPhone, one of the ones without the headphone jack, and that meant adjusting to a whole new world. The AirPods are both brilliant and awful. Here’s …

A while back I wrote about the Amazon Dash buttons and how my initial tests left me frustrated and underwhelmed. I’ve recently started using them again and although a couple of the issues are still there, I’m now converted. It was this year's Prime Day that kickstarted me into using them again, as some of the buttons were on offer. I picked up a couple that I’d been in two …

It's about time for the (sometimes) annual collection of novelty mugs, and this time I've got a selection of five that feature top secret ninjas, a bit of computer geekery, and of course, a panda. Let's start there in fact. This panda hug mug is adorable, although it's disappointing the hug is being given to the biscuits you are just about to eat, rather than yourself. As with many mugs …

At first glance, this film looks like it pushes all the right buttons. A lonely man with a big idea fighting against all odds, some misfits who just want to be accepted, and... well, and Zac Efron. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMKKCh_prl4 But all you need to remember from this trailer, and hopefully from the movie is this: No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else. Wisdom.

I was really looking forward to Taylor Swift's new album. I've been racing through her back catalogue in preparation, and was captivated by the four songs that were released ahead of launch day. Mr C, previously the biggest TayTay fan in this household, hasn't been convinced by the new stuff but I'm all in. Except, I'm not all in because I can't listen to the album yet. Reputation has been …

I've been rallying for more music television content since they took Top of the Pops off the air, and the BBC have delivered somewhat in the form of Sounds Like Friday Night (half an hour isn't really long enough for that kind of show, but I'll take anything at the moment). Now I think we've got time and space on TV for the return of music quizzing as well, and …

Earlier this year, I wrote up some thoughts on Netflix original content, and having just finished up yet another fabulous Netflix series, thought I would post an update. One Day at a Time (series 1) I don’t know the original show that this was based on, and by all accounts it’s different enough to not matter, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The Cuban …

Apple Music recently launched public profiles so that you can properly share playlists. My profile is here, and it’s small at the moment, but I’m hoping to publish regular playlists. This first one, Oct 17 - Eclectic Selection, features songs that I have been listening to and loving over the past month in an effort to show just how mixed and bizarre my musical adventures can be. Some of the …

Recently, I’ve been trying to watch more educational television alongside all the more sensational Netflix stuff or traditional half-hour comedies. This desire has meant checking out a lot of BBC Four and BBC Two, and I really enjoyed the four-part factual show on the latter: World’s Busiest Cities. Presented by Anita Rani, Dan Snow and Ade Adepitan, the show delved into what makes four very different cities across the globe …

I was kind of in two minds about Carpool Karaoke branching out on its own. It works brilliantly as a sketch on the James Cordon late night show, but to stand on its own two feet? How would that work? Could it sustain a longer show? And what would it be like without James? Well, the answer is that for the most part, it’s still as brilliant as it was …

This video came as a complete surprise to me. I didn't know that Josh from Drake and Josh was a video blogger, although I did know that he had got all thin and had fallen out with Drake about the wedding. Sad times. Except not sad times because that meant we got this amazing video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwjoJkTc4mk So much to love about this, but of course the reunion itself is the …

I’m still quite new to the whole bass playing thing and I’ve been looking around the App Store for instructional apps. Whilst the scope is limited for bass guitar itself, the arena of musical tuition is incredible. I so wish these things existed when I was a kid and was trying my hand at all kinds of different instruments. For now, though, I’ve settled on Yousician, an app that covers …

The one thing it is easy to forget when you have a blog is that people are occasionally reading what you’re saying. It really shouldn’t be a surprise when someone says “Hey, why don’t you try this food, I know you’re trying to taste new things, I saw it on your blog.” I wasn’t keen, if I’m honest, because this thing is called liquorice root. I don’t like liquorice, and …

I can’t remember where I heard of the Serial reading app, but I downloaded it a while back and left it sitting on my phone for a while before I had time to play around with it. After finally investigating what it has to offer, I can’t now decide how I feel about it. As with all the best apps, Serial Reader offers up a simple solution to a problem …

Like many people, I love Nadiya of Bake Off and now her own TV show fame. I've been watching her British Food Adventure with a sort of vague interest - experimenting in the kitchen is not high on my agenda at the moment. But, then I saw the third episode and realised I should pay more attention to this lady - she talks sense. Me too, Nadiya, me too.

I was planning on publishing another update to my Adventures in Netflix series, but was waiting until I’d watched one more series of something. Unfortunately, any Netflix watching I had planned has been delayed as I’ve become totally obsessed with Red Rock – an Irish police drama that airs on the BBC during the daytime, the iPlayer whenever you want, and I believe on Amazon Video as well. It’s no …

When it was first announced that Miranda Hart would be taking the role of Miss Hannigan in the West End production of Annie, I knew I’d have to go and see it. Annie isn’t one of my favourite musicals – children and animals and all that jazz – but the chance to see Miranda in her first stage musical role was too good to pass up. Thus, I rocked up …

As if I wasn't obsessed with Haim enough at the moment, they've only gone and covered Shania Twain for a radio segment in Australia. Turns out they're pretty fond of the country/pop sensation, and they do a fab job of covering That Don't Impress Me Much. Okay, so you've got a car! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNkzhHG0Prs As an aside, I can't figure if the segment title 'Like a Version' is genius or not. …

This podcast first came to my attention as one of the episodes featured the rather marvellous Simona de Silvestro - race car driver and generally all round good egg. Once I listened to that episode, I very quickly downloaded all the preceding shows and subscribed so I wouldn't miss any future publications either. In Her Court comes out of Australia and features sports journalist Sam Squiers interviewing a variety of …

For the past two weeks, the 2017 Wimbledon Championships have been underway, and they’ve provided lots of ups and downs, highlights and disappointments, the usual Grand Slam tournament soap opera. This year was different for me, though, because I was there on day one. I was one of those attendees in the grounds of the All-England Club. I never really thought I’d get to Wimbledon in person. It was a …

I’ve been catching up with BBC Two’s The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes – a programme hosted by Caroline Quentin and Piers Taylor that is kind of like Grand Designs, but the houses are already built and no one gets pregnant before the end of each episode. My dad first highlighted the show to me, because there was an entire programme dedicated to underground houses. The dynamic duo visit four locations …

Usually when I watch sports, I am looking for a good game/match/race, and may have a favourite in the mix but as long as it’s a good battle or an impressive display, then I’m happy. Over the last six months or so, I’ve been investing myself into the WTA tournaments so that now I have a handful of favourites, for a variety of different reasons. Somehow, I’ve escaped without any …

I was perusing the Goodreads site for a while early today when I noticed their stats page. I haven't really delved into this side of things much, other than looking at the count of books I've read each year. What was I hyped up on in 2014 for goodness' sake? Today I spotted this graph of books by publication date by read date. Forgive me for this self indulgence, but …

Oh hi, yea, I'm a bass player now. It's not like I need another hobby at the moment, but this is the end result of a Friday night when you watch Glastonbury on iPlayer catchup with a glass of wine, and there just happens to be a seriously gorgeous bass guitar lying around the house. Of course after just a couple of days of this, I can't feel my fingers …

Oh my stars. Unlike Baywatch, where I had all the expectations in the world and was a bit disappointed by the trailer, for Jumanji, I had nothing. When I rewatched the original for Film Watch, it wasn't as good as I remembered, so why would this be any better? Well, the first trailer was released today and already, I am loving the look of this remake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7QVVsgje6M I'm really hoping …

This week, I just finished watching season four of Agents of Shield, and my word, it was an incredible ride. (Vague spoilers below, nothing major.) I’ve loved watching the trials and tribulations of these Shield agents since the show first began, but it has gradually been improving in quality to the point that this series was an absolute triumph. My affection for the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been wearing thin …

I knew it had been a while since I last went on an Alphabet Adventure visit, but looking back now, I’m horrified to find it’s been over three years. Ridiculous. So, I stopped putting it off, and dashed to the Lake District to have a gander at that body of water known as Windermere. It’s famous, apparently, for being the longest lake in the UK, and it’s very pretty, but …

This year, in anticipation of their new album, I've become a fully paid up Haim fan. Somewhere along the line, these girls wormed their way into my heart. Whether it was listening to their album, or their radio show (currently on hiatus), or just following them on Twitter... I'm in love. Quirky and unique, with their own style and a comfort in their own skins, these ladies are also supremely …

I really like the simplicity of the idea behind Three Good Things, an app that does one thing well. You are tasked with logging three good things for each day, with the aim of stringing together streaks of days and generally making your world a little bit of a happier place. The things don’t have to be life-changing, and they don’t have to be complex. You’re only given 100 characters …

About eighteen months ago, I talked briefly of my obsession with Asphalt 8 on the Apple TV, a game that combined third party controllers with Apple TV accessibility to make a brilliant and captivating racing game. For a few months, this game was everything – I wanted to get all the stars for all the events in all the seasons, I wanted to upgrade all the cars and collect as …

I’m trying to up my theatre game this year, so was glad to get a chance to see The Play That Goes Wrong. I’d seen a snippet on some variety show on TV and became quickly entranced with the idea of seeing the full thing on stage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DCW4z9eEQc It’s such a brilliant show, starting simply but gradually building in terms of farce, disaster and hysteria. What’s clever about it though …

We are rapidly heading towards the point of the year where Wimbledon takes over UK TV screens. Currently, the WTA and ATP tours are finishing up their stints on the orange clay, with the French Open still to come, but attention has already turned to the highlight of the grass court season (and arguably the entire tennis-related year). This year, there are no less than three women with everything to …

The format of visiting a subject through a certain number of tangential objects has been done a few times, but I’ve found this recent iteration from the BBC fascinating. Tim Harford, one of the Beeb’s resident economists, covers fifty things that have, in some way, shaped the economy that we know and live with today. If you had to list some things, you’d probably say credit cards, interest rates, banks, …

For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to buy Buffy the Vampire Slayer on iTunes, but I’ve held off because it’s not in HD. Plenty of older content is being converted into HD, but I understood that Buffy was a particularly tricky one to convert, what with it being all special effects and kick-ass movement. I hadn’t realised that the conversion had already been attempted a couple of years ago, …

This looks AMAZING. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvsz3lhrE1o One of the bonuses of this film is that there's a documentary about this subject too, which is on my documentary to-watch list that never gets looked at. If they could just go ahead and dramatise all of them, I'd be able to cross a lot more off that list!

Working my way through Michael Palin’s first collection of diaries, and stumbled across this paragraph – a dream of utopia that is still relevant today, even though we’re further away than ever. I’m glad that there are cars and planes and television and washing machines, and I think we cannot suddenly pretend that they have not been invented – but I feel we must control their use, and that they …

The Eurovision Song Competition this weekend was a fun evening of drinking wine and watching a variety of singing acts doing their thing, but despite the enjoyment of the evening, it left me a little flat. I thought at first it was because a serious song had won the whole thing. Portugal’s guy was clearly very talented but it didn’t really feel in the spirit of Eurovision – this is …

Every time I finish watching a Netflix original show, I keep thinking I should write about it and then I never do. So gathered here are some thoughts on the things I have watched over the last few months, probably in reverse order. 13 Reasons Why Lots of fuss about this one and I can see why. It is surprisingly graphic in content, and tells a depressing story from start …

So, I bought a new car. I know what you’re thinking, “when I read on this blog that the new car buying process was starting, it sounded like we were going to enjoy tales from every step along the journey.” Well, yea, except that was five years ago. My old car kept on keeping on for longer than expected, and then of course, life got in the way, and I …

I'm so gutted by the news that Peter Kay isn't planning on any more Car Share. Plans change and things have a habit of being resurrected when you least expect it, but for the moment, Kay suggests the show is done. There's not going to be a series three so it won't ever happen. You've got to get out while the going's good. No Christmas special, no... There's only so …

So, you know that feeling when you've loved the soundtrack to a movie for years and years, and then you start listening to more albums and catch up with one that you probably should have already known about, that quickly becomes one of your top ten, and then you realise that one of the artists actually sings on that original soundtrack, one of your favourite songs? Happens to us all, …

New trailer released for The Golden Circle, the sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service (which I can't believe I watched two whole years ago!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxc-3WpMbg I actually ended viewing this trailer with my mouth agape. The first film garnered a 5 out of 5 stars rave review from me, and this second one looks just as good. It's also a great excuse to have to re-watch the first one again... …

I recently got a chance to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the two part HP play that is currently featured in London's West End. Around the same time, the play broke records for Olivier Award nominations and actual award success, so I was going in with some pretty high expectations. Naturally, I have to #keepthesecrets but it's fair to say that I can fully endorse the awards for …

I was having a bit of a panic over the last few weeks that I’ve listened to lots of albums but can’t remember them all. What do I like? What don’t I like? Why so manyyy? And then I took a step back and realised this project isn’t about learning every single song I listen to. I compared it to the Film Watch odyssey, which isn’t about remembering all 700+ …

If you've watched tennis for any extended period of time, particularly outside of the main grand slam events, then you might have seen the moments when coaches come on court to have a chat to the players mid-match. It only happens on the women's tour, and isn't at every event, nor does every player choose to do such a thing, so it can be a blink and you'll miss it …

I've had a love/hate relationship with streaming music. At first I hated it because I wanted to be more in control of... well, everything. And then I loved it because I wouldn't have been able to afford to listen to 100 albums in a year if I had to purchase every single one. Plus, I would have had to buy Drake's album and that would not have made me very …

It was announced a couple of weeks ago that Peter Capaldi will be stepping down from the BBC role everyone’s talking about – no, not the lead of whatever baking show will replace GBBO, but in fact, the titular role of Doctor Who. It’s no secret that Capaldi hasn’t been my favourite Doctor, and I’ll admit that I have watched only two episodes of his since his tenure began. So …