The month of September was filled with a nightly music extravaganza courtesy of the iTunes Festival 2012. Each evening, one or more warm-up acts introduced a bigger name, and it was all streamed live on the internet, available as a catchup replay afterwards as well. Mr C watched all of them, I saw some of the main ones, and these are some of my findings. 1) There were a variety …

To celebrate their 80th anniversary this year, Lego created a 15 minute animation recounting the history of the company. I missed this when it first came out in August, and have just got round to watching it now. You have to keep in mind that it's one massive sales pitch, and the voiceover can get a bit patronising at times, but even so, there's a lot in here that I …

Over the weekend, the fabulous Stuart asked if I would be reading the new release from JK Rowling. The answer is quite simply that yes, I do think I'll read it but no, I haven't yet. I'm a big Harry Potter fan, but somehow this new book from JK Rowling doesn't worry me in the way other "next projects" for beloved people do. It feels as though HP is such …

We've seen Moneyball and "if you build it they will come" and when I saw the trailer for 42, I really wanted to see it! I don't think I've ever seen a baseball game but I really like movies about it. I should probably see about watching some of the actual action, but in the meantime, this looks good. 42 Now, if you tell me that there's a film by …

I know I am very far behind to have only just discovered Temple Run. In fact, I saw the Brave tie-in before I saw the actual game, and because I haven't seen Brave, I instantly dismissed it. I can't remember why I suddenly decided to download it, but I was reading through some news feeds and they talked of other games of a similar nature to Temple Run. I opted …

I was looking forward to this biscuit episode of the Bake Off, but actually when we got to it, it wasn't all that biscuity after all. The options this week were as follows: Signature dish - Crackers Technical challenge - Chocolate teacakes Showstopper - Gingerbread construction I'm not really a massive fan of gingerbread - I don't mind the occasional biscuit or nibble but an entire house was a bit …

A while back, my parents introduced me to the Mimosa pudica, otherwise known as the Sensitive Plant (or my new favourite name Touch-Me-Not). It's a cute little plant that looks perfectly normal until you touch it, when it all curls up on itself like a hedgehog. I thought it was quite cruel to prod and poke at it, but it recovers in about ten minutes and then it's hard to …

After the revelations of last month, Mike and Vicky, well, they're not talking at all. They start to tell people about the baby, so they get advice from all quarters. Then they do talk - a full on two-hander episode that was really good. Mike is still worried, but he's on board. For now. Elsewhere, Freddie breaks his collar bone because Elizabeth is ridiculous and can't say no to her …

It's been a while since I tried a new tea, I've been content drinking my Clipper Ginger and Twinings Nettle. However, that didn't stop me buying new and exciting teas, to the point where I had four boxes sitting and waiting to be tasted. I finally got round to trying a new one, another Clipper, this time berry flavoured. Clipper Raspberry Leaf £1.69 for 20 teabags A refreshing, distinctive and …

BBC Four started airing Lilyhammer a week or so ago, and I tuned in to the first episode to see what it was like. Lilyhammer is exciting because it's a Netflix original - the DVD and streaming company put their hands in their pockets and paid for this show to be created. It's a bold new move from them, rather than sitting back and waiting for deals to be done …

After the high of new running shoes wore off (only took a week this time, boo!) I wanted a bit of a boost, so I tried out another Zombies Run mission - it's always good to try something different. I noticed that the people behind Zombies Run are creating a spin off version based on the Couch 2 5K thing. I'm jealous! Can I go back to the beginning and …

"I hate endings," the Doctor declares, as he sits having a nice picnic with his two companions in New York City. Yet, we all know that this story is going to come to an end, and it's going to do so in the next 40 minutes. The foreboding increases by the minute, as we head towards what was proclaimed as a heart-breaking farewell. I didn't feel at all right after …

I've tried to stick to recipes from the actual Bake Off for the last couple of weeks, but this time I moved slightly away from it. There were a few variations on the Chelsea bun, and I very quickly realised that I wanted to do the bun, but in it's rather more normal form. It's worth noting what the other challenges were for this week: Signature dish - Regional buns …

The task this episode had to fulfil was clearly set out from the start. Rory and Amy have been showing increased dissatisfaction with their roles as companions, and the gap between them and the Doctor has been growing week on week. One or other of them usually makes the point of saying they miss running for their lives, but we don't quite believe them. So, this week, we had to …

An admission before we begin - this week I was forced to pick the recipe before I'd actually seen the Bake Off show. My viewing was delayed until Thursday, and I had to order my online shopping before that, so I viewed the episode recipe options on the BBC's site and decided on the one that looked the best. The options this time: Signature dish - Sponge puddings Technical challenge …

A few years ago, I tried out the supermarket online delivery service, because I love the "getting lots of lovely new food" part of grocery shopping but dislike the actual mechanics of it. Back then, I did it a couple of times and revelled in things being delivered straight to my door, but I soon stopped. There were a few reasons, including their odd policy of wrapping single items in …

On Monday night, Mr C and I rocked up to Birmingham's National Indoor Arena to watch Michael McIntyre do his thing. It's been on my Life List for a while to watch a comedian live, because it turns out I have never done that before. I don't remember why it was Mr McIntyre that received the privilege of being my first comedian (there may have been alcohol involved when purchasing …

This week, we discovered the genius that is Wreck-It Ralph. The blurb says: "A video game villain wants to be a hero and sets out to fulfil his dream, but his quest brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives." The trailer says it's going to be awesome. Wreck-It Ralph I only know a few of the characters in there, but there's bound to be a lot of excellent …

With the iTunes Festival ongoing (and irritating in their only putting up some of the replays and not all), Mr C and I have been having more discussions about music than normal. It's always good fun when we talk music because we have slightly different music eras, very different music tastes, and what turns out to be different requirements when it comes to background noise. As people that do creative …

After the last update, I did go out and purchase some new shoes. They're in a similar fashion to my old ones - white and Nike - but they're also quite awesome. They have purple insides and purple laces! How can they be anything but great? Instantly, I wore them and was back on form... if you can call what I do any kind of form. I completed another 10k, …

More than ever, this third episode of the truncated series seven was one of those mini-films that Steven Moffat desired. As he has previously said: When we had the pitch meetings for the various stories, I would say ‘Tell me the movie poster. Tell me the title, what’s on the poster and what’s the log-line… Let’s have a blockbuster every single week, no two-parters, every single week is going to …

After last week, wherein I wasn't sure I liked anything I'd seen on screen, I knew this would be a much easier week. Mr C is a fan of pastry, and there was bound to be something we liked. The options this time: Signature dish - Wellington Technical challenge - Hand-raised pie Showstopper - American sweet pie I was convinced it was going to be a Wellington on my to-do …

I started this crazy Film Watch experiment way back in April 2009 - watching, noting and blogging each film that I watched in an attempt to remember what was good, and not so good. Along the way, it turned into a Life List thing, to watch 500 films. At first the goal seemed a million miles away, but gradually it has seemed more doable, and now I am halfway through! …

[I'm one of the Kindle's biggest fans, and will buy as much as I can in digital form. But there are a few books I can't get rid of. This is the first in an infrequent and limited series featuring those physical books that mean enough to earn their place in the box that moves house with us.] I loved The Faraway Tree series as a kid. The idea of …

There have been lots of rumours about who would be participating in Strictly Come Dancing this year, and all I've heard for ages is people saying other people would like to do it. The best example was everyone's favourite Master Baker Paul Hollywood pausing at all the "wrong" moments in conversation with Chris Evans. It was a fine example of the art of misdirection, which only became apparent yesterday when …

Lots of great TV has returned to our screens recently: The Great British Bake Off, Doctor Who, Only Connect, etc. There is still more to come, I believe, but actually it is Only Connect that caught my attention, making me ponder why exactly it is that we enjoy quizzes that are too hard for us? With Only Connect, I wondered if it was simply that the format is completely engaging. …

It's not been a good couple of weeks, I'll be honest. I had hoped to go out for a longer run this weekend but I only had two opportunities - one of them was far too hot to even consider and the other one... well, I went for a nap instead. You know how it is. The last six runs I have done have been thirty minutes each, and have …

The iTunes Festival is currently in full swing - 30 days of live music, held at the Camden Roundhouse in London and streamed across the globe via iTunes and its many apps. There's a variety of acts available, with warm up artists appearing before more established names, and the diversity is amazing. So far we've already heard from the pop name that is Olly Murs, through the more acoustic Ed …

Presumably, this episode's title comes as an homage or a satire of Snakes on a Plane. I haven't seen the film but if it is anything like as mad as this weekend's Who outing, I'm on board. The action got going straight away, with the Doctor picking up his "gang" and heading straight to the spaceship housing the aforementioned prehistoric creatures. He referenced not having a gang before, but I …

As I tweeted earlier in the week, something I had not considered when I dreamt up this idea of trying my hand at things that the Bake Off featured, was the concept of not liking anything within a given week. Each episode is on a theme, but there are three options within each and a multitude of recipes in each option. How is it possible not to like any of …

When I was posting Trailer Tuesday a while back, the Paddington poster made me want to read the books, so I had a peek on the Kindle store and found many of them (perhaps all?) available for the device. That got me thinking, what other fab books of my youth are also available for the Kindle? The Worst Witch was one of my favourites as a kid, probably because I …

I just recently finished playing a new, actually old, game on the iPad called The Island: Castaway. I can't remember why I bought it, except that I love islands and the concept of being cast away on one. That'll probably do it. There's a video ad for the game that explains it better than I could. It's really very simple, you just run around picking things up, and interacting with …

I've been catching up on some RSS feeds recently (where I am getting down to a reasonable number of unlistened podcasts, my unread items has been creeping up), and I spotted this crazy little item earlier in the month. A DeLorean that is also a boat. It's cool, and fun, but I took umbridge with the concept almost immediately simply because of this, in the Engadget story where I saw …

A lot has happened in a month for Vicky and Mike. Vicky couldn't contain her excitement over the news, announcing it at Phoebe's coming home party. Everyone seemed to take it very well - I was expecting a lot more shock and gossip, but we didn't really hear any of that. (In fact, when Lynda learned of the news, she was incredibly supportive, beautifully so!) Instead, the focus of the …

Doctor Who is back on our screens as the seventh series began yesterday. With Daleks, divorce, a delightful Doctor plus a surprise special guest, this first episode had a little bit of everything. Actually, it had quite a lot of Daleks. Before we get onto the episode proper, it's worth a quick mention for Pond Life - the pre-series build up mini-episodes that featured on the BBC's Doctor Who webpage …

Mr C and I had something of a discussion/disagreement after the last baking adventure. The flatbreads were nice enough, but he was disappointed they didn't match anything that he'd seen on his TV screen. I hadn't realised it up until this point but the BBC do actually put selected recipes from the Great British Bake Off on the site, so for this week's challenge, I promised to do something that …

There hasn't been too much to report for the last two weeks, I'm afraid real life has just got in the way of my dreams of Olympic stardom. In reality, I have been training at work for two weeks, with another still to come, and it's amazing what a difference this change of pace makes. Firstly, I've been getting home from work a little later than normal. With time such …

I was ever so slightly disappointed that this week's topic was breads, as I had such fun with the cake last week, I was hoping for more sweet treats this time round. Nevertheless, the theme was bread based, and the options were as follows: Signature dish - Flatbreads Technical challenge - Plaited loaf Showstopper - Sweet and savoury bagels I was very, very tempted by the bagels because as we …

To tie in with the Olympics, the Kindle store held a Reading Marathon sale. Oh, how I love a Kindle sale. I delved right in, clicking my way through book after book, pondering some new purchases. I spent more than I would have liked, but equally, came out with plenty of books for my money, so I can't complain. It wasn't until I synced them with my actual Kindle that …

The fantastic Great British Bake Off has returned to our screens this past week, with a brand new batch of bakers trying to impress the lovely Mary Berry and feisty Paul Hollywood. For the last two series, I've been a passive viewer - sometimes drooling, sometime awe-inspired by what the amateur bakers are managing to achieve. The showstopper challenge still impresses me every time, particular as they draw near the …

I've kept a diary on and off for years. The first diary I remember writing was in one of those exercise books where half the page is blank and half the page is lines with enormous spacing. We would draw and write about our day. I don't draw well, but I probably didn't write very well in those days either. I also recall later keeping a diary in the back …

Whilst my previous posts on this subject have been bullet point notes of things that have stood out for me, I can't do the same for this one. Already, the specific details are beginning to fade from my brain, and we're only one day post-Olympics. Mo was brilliant, obviously. There were some great final moments in the modern pentathlons, weird as they are. Tom Daley's diving on Friday was fantastic, …

I renamed the category for these posts a while back, opting to call it the Running Diary. As that is the case, here is a true day by day diary of last week's workouts. Monday Definitely in the mood for a run today, having not been out since Wednesday. It was a busy weekend, so no real time to hit the pavements. Went out for thirty minutes, felt good, relatively …

As with my previous post, here are just some random thoughts from the last few days of competition. The Men's 400m final was brilliant. Not only were there twins in the race, but they crossed the line at almost exactly the same time! They came 5th and 6th and were just two hundredths of a second apart! Of course, you can't talk about brothers without mentioning the Brownlee duo who …

Firstly, I can't quite understand where the last two weeks have gone. These are meant to be weekly updates but they keep turning into fortnightly ones because the days are escaping me. It felt like it was going to be a really good week/fortnight for running this time, although now I look back I didn't go nearly as much as I had thought! After running on Sunday, I also went …

This month the troubles at Brookfield came to an apparent end, so towards the end of July we had a glimpse of other impending storylines and a reminder that there are other people in Ambridge too! But, of course, the fire at Brookfield farm really was the key point of the last few weeks and still has some repercussions to come. Fired up At first, everyone was abandoning the farm …

With the Olympics taking over everything, I thought I'd spare five minutes to note down some thoughts on what I've seen so far. These are just scrabbled notes, not arranged in much of an order, Opening Ceremony Highlights Rowan Atkinson's moment of glory was fabulous. The ability of one man to captivate what turned out to be an audience made up of 26 million is so good. I'm sure there …

Oh. so. good. And I do love Ben Whishaw! Cannot wait.

There's just a day or so left before the 2012 Olympics gets underway (or if you're a football fan, they already have!) and I'm excited! I've only really got into the Olympics over the last couple of games, I paid more attention at Beijing than I have before, and I'm really looking forward to watching as much as possible this year. It helps that we'll have day by day threads …

Fresh from my experiment with the free taster teabags that Twinings send out to potential customers, I decided to go with the same company for my next purchase. I've never really understood the idea of nettle flavoured things - aren't they those irritating plants that make walks in the country just that little bit more dangerous? So, Nettle and Sweet Fennel. I bought this before realising it was quite so …