It's been quite chilly in the UK recently, so it was a good time to finish off my latest scarf. This Kallik pattern was such a good knit, super simple but requiring an element of concentration to make sure the pattern didn't go awry. It's just four stitches knit, four stitches purl but shifting each row to make the diagonal pattern. At first, I had to diligently read the pattern …

I’ve had a vague draft for a blog post about the warm hug of familiar media for a while now, but as ever Kottke has written about it better than I ever could. In this post, the question is posed: What’s Your Go-To Comfort Media? > I reckon most of us have certain books, movies, TV shows, music, podcasts, and other media that we turn to when we need some …

Tennis has rolled into a new year and already we are into the first Grand Slam, with the Australian Open under way and as fascinating as ever. As a UK viewer, the last couple of weeks have been pretty disappointing, as Amazon dropped their coverage of the sport via their Prime streaming service and Sky have picked it up instead. We got a taste of this during the US Open …

I don’t have a good track record with Godzilla movies, I always go into them thinking they’re going to be great and then they disappoint. My shortened review of one of them tells you everything you need to know: So I wasn’t that bothered about the new TV series streaming on Apple TV+ that was a kind of sequel-prequel situation between movies, I’d been burned before. The only interesting thing …

A new year and new films. My count of films watched last year was a little low, partly due to less time but also because the time I did have I used to watch so much amazing TV. How can films compete with such great short-form content? Well, we'll have to see how this year goes and the next batch might help! January The Boys in the Boat A good …

This year my list of new year goals was very short and revolved quite a lot around the Playstation, but actually I have been thinking about areas I can reset and get organised, gaining a little bit of control. The first one is subscriptions. I don't know about you, but I find that subscriptions to various apps, streaming services, and even physical things, can get lost in the wilderness and …

I've done it, I've decided, phew. It's taken my a week or two longer than it usually does to decide my top five albums of the year just gone but finally I'm ready to put pen to paper, or pixel to screen, and talk about my finalists. There were only eight albums in the shortlist anyway, which somehow made it harder. I narrowed it down to six but then deciding …

My traditional new year post comes with a wrap up of the year just gone and a look ahead to my aims and goals for the next twelve months. The year just gone can be summed up quite simply as chaos - there was so much going on in both work and life that I was supremely grateful to have time off over Christmas just to rest and recuperate. And …

It's been another year full of reading and it's been wonderful, the only downside being I don't seem to be making as much progress on my bookshelf backlog as I would have liked. But nevertheless, each year I like to pick out ten of my favourite reads from the year. These are the ones I have hand picked, listed in the order that I read them, as I refuse to …

It seems like I’ve been saying this a lot recently - this thing from the past is coming back or being rebooted in some way, and it sounds like a really bad idea. And, just as with most of the other things, it’s actually turned out so much better than I was expecting. In this instance, the subject in question is the Paramount reboot of Frasier. It seemed so unnecessary... …

I was not necessarily as geared up for this final as I was hoping - it all just seemed so predictable, and I knew it wasn't going to be the emotional rollercoaster that other finals have been. However, I kept telling myself that stranger things have happened and Ellie might not just run away with it, right? Great opening dance, by the way, so lovely to include both Amy and …

Hooray, it's time for another Mastermind specialist topic that I think I could have a good go at if I was sitting in the hot seat. It was a few episodes ago and Amy's chosen topic was the sitcom MIRANDA. Yay! If I'm being completely honest, I only knew this had occurred because Miranda herself took the quiz on Tiktok. She did pretty well, not 100% though! Amy got ten …

The Graham Norton Show is legendary on British TV screens - a chat show that is hilarious but friendly, mixing unexpected celebrities together so that you never know when a fascinating moment is going to happen. I dip in and out, the quality of the show naturally depends on the selection of guests, and your enjoyment varies depending on your knowledge and liking of them. This week's show featured a …

After a very minor scalding incident with a hot water bottle, I realised that there was a lack of HWB covers in the house and that I could probably whip one up quite quickly with a bit of leftover yarn. I sourced this super easy pattern, and even though I was using slightly different weight yarn, it worked out so well. The pattern is so easy, increase a little, knit …

After the slightly disappointing quarter final in which an injured Nigel withdrew and no public vote was held, we're back at the sharp end again. With each couple doing two dances tonight, there will be three scores from the judges added together, although our remaining couples are so close, you have to wonder how much difference that will make. We're at that point where the start of this competition seems …

I had previously talked about how excited I was for the Doctor Who specials celebrating the 60th anniversary of the show (sort of), and seeing my personal favourites David Tennant and Catherine Tate return. Well, we have three episodes done and dusted and was it worth it? YES! Here are some thoughts from the shows short run, spoilers obviously within: Bifurcating the Doctor! We now have two Doctors running around, …

I wanted to try knitting in multiple colours, having previously done a bit of stripe work on full rows but not mixing it up mid-row. I found these patterns for Marvel icons in squares and thought that looked quite a fun place to start. The Captain America shield was my first attempt and I couldn't really get my head round it, somehow it is both too loose and too tight …

So close to the end now and the show descends into chaos! We were all really looking forward to five brilliant dances on Musicals week that would then send four couples through to the semi finals, only to find that Nigel injured himself and couldn't perform. This late in the day, that means he's out of the competition! There are contingencies in place for this, of course, and instead of …

I’ve had a couple of mental health revelations this year, simple things that I’ve learned about myself. They mostly fall under the category of things that you read tips for all the time and think, well sure that’s just common sense, then realise you’re not actually doing it and that might be why you’re bending under the stress. Meanwhile, recently, Apple launched a new element to their health tracking platforms …

We're at the point now where the floor suddenly seems very empty even when all the couples are there - just six dances to get through tonight, and then only five couples making it through to next week. But hooray, the next show is the musicals special and with the quality of dancers we have left, we should be in for some brilliant entertainment. But that's next week, let's focus …

The big ol' Blackpool ballroom is our home for this week and it always feels like it really should just be the home of Strictly anyway, it is a really beautiful place, the atmosphere is amazing, and sure, we want it as a one off special occasion, but also, imagine opening and finale episodes here? Oh well, for now it can be our mid-season treat, and talking of treats, Kelvin …

Way back when this James Bond spin off project was announced, I thought it was a crazy idea. Some kind of reality show where people do some challenges and answer some questions to try and win lots of money... what does that have to do with Bond? The show, 007: Road to a Million, was recently released on Prime and I watched the first episode with a similar amount of …

I've been using and writing about Duolingo and their excellent language lessons for a long time now, but was not expecting the wise old language owl to branch out into other areas, particularly maths and most recently music. The team have said they get asked a lot to expand into other areas, and it's always been their mission to make the best free education possible so perhaps it was always …

The only intro I can offer for this post is the same as Claudia said in the actual intro to the show: Blackpool. That is the fifth mention, we have been on air for two minutes. --- Krishnan & Lauren - Samba I like Lauren's teaching method of bow and arrow for helping Krishnan understand the shapes. Initial thoughts are only yellow trousers and fists for hands, but once in …

Hooray, a new section has appeared on this website and it's dedicated to games and gaming! I'm a fair-weather gamer, usually dipping in and out of iPhone apps until the next Tomb Raider adventure is released. Tomb Raider and Spider-Man have been the two most recent games I've been obsessed with and they were a while ago now (haven't started the new Spider-Man yet!) I want to do better, at …

The second season of Loki drew to a close this week, and I'm going to be honest, it was a pretty big disappointment. The whole series, in fact, hasn't lived up to the fun and glory of the first one, even though this time out the stakes were higher and the time travel even more prevalent. The biggest problem I had with it was not enough time spent with the …

I'm sure last week they were referring to the half point of the competition but that appears to have been this week - they may have mentioned it once or twice, you'll have noticed! We're coming down from the stress of Halloween week and are without a theme for a couple of weeks now until everything heads north to Blackpool. We're left with some really good dancers, and although there …

The BBC just added all available classic episodes of Doctor Who to their iPlayer streaming service, meaning they have the entire collection of Doctor Who series old and new all under one roof. This is superbly exciting. It's always been in the back of my mind to watch some old Doctor Who episodes, partly because I do feel bad at being one of those 'new Who' only fans, but also …

I quite liked the intro to this week's Halloween show, particularly where Krishnan got to have a go on Dave's keyboards - what an honour! Anton wins the costume competition amongst the judges, Shirley's was a bad choice as it restricted her ability to talk, and Motsi's hair was flipping about all over the place. But the contestants had great costumes throughout, although is it a rule that someone has …

It's so sad that Matthew Perry has died. Friends is such an integral part of my life, and of course it's not going anywhere, but now it just has that extra layer of sadness and nostalgia that I wasn't quite ready for. I recently read his autobiography which shared difficult but important stories about addiction, alongside lots of stories from his career. Perry did far more than Friends, obviously, but …

When I reviewed the second series of OMITB (we're calling it that, right?), I was talking about the upward trajectory that it was on and hoping the third would continue that way. Did it? Didn't it just! I really liked this murder as it was not connected to the first two series' story so had a fresh take to it, and featured a lot of incredible new cast members - …

Is it just me or did this week's Strictly live show have a very weird feeling about it? Of course we were one contestant down with Amanda Abbington absent for non-specific medical reasons, but the remaining pairs seemed very tense and making a few mistakes. And the judging was all over the place! We are at that point in the competition where it swings from 'this is a good score …

The weather has definitely turned autumnal now, so it seemed like a good time to try out a knitting pattern for fingerless gloves. I've found a few different ones available online, but opted to go for this free pattern that looked relatively simple. It was back to the double pointed needles, and although it took me two attempts at the first glove, it actually was quite easy. The thumb was …

The week after a theme week, when we go back to normal and a random collection of dances and songs, always feels a bit flat. But this week there's a really interesting selection of songs that mean I'm on board to see who can pull out all the stops and earn another week of dancing. --- Ellie & Vito - Samba I'm quite enjoying that each week Vito comes up …

Earlier this year, Apple TV+ released Drops of God, a multi-lingual series set in the serious world of wine-tasting. I've just wrapped up watching the series, and I want to write about it but I don't really know where to begin. It took a while to start watching, and a while to get into it, and it wasn't a priority series so it took longer than expected to complete the …

Movie week! Disney celebrations. Incredible costumes. And lovely AMY!! Overwhelming and we're only minutes in. Let's go! --- Nigel & Katya - Jive (Batman) I like the glitterball bat signal but I do not like this dance. I guess expectations were high as Nigel's been so good for two weeks but this just wasn't his dance. The kicking wasn't great, and there were quite a few mistakes. He wasn't put …

I'm a little bit late posting this, we're already a week into the final quarter of the year - but the films will wait for me, I'm sure. There's a real mix of stuff coming up, but we're still on a bit of a lull from the various strikes and I'm also wondering what on earth the Christmas output is going to be like this year. But I've avoided the …

There was a bit of a rumpus recently about certain fashion retailers starting to charge a fee for returning clothes bought online, which on the one hand doesn't seem outrageous (I know there are customers out there that buy heaps of stuff as if they're in a changing room and return what they don't want), but on the other hand is a bit of a swindle when you never quite …

Maybe I was just keen but it felt like the show just dived straight in and got on with it. Opening dance, traditional welcomes, couples down the stairs, and let's go. Of course at this point in the competition, the show is super-size in length anyway, and it was also hugely obvious towards the end when they'd given the judges the hurry up and one word answers were all we …

There have been a lot of changes to Apple products and softwares around my house recently and I have barely scratched the surface of any of them. I mean, let's be fair, I barely ever manage to scratch the surface of updates before the next lot come out but I'm always determined to try and I think that counts for something. The first thing that has really piqued my interest …

This weekend, the BBC released a new and quite lengthy trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who specials, featuring the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate as the Doctor and Donna respectively. I was already excited for these specials and this reunion, but now my anticipation is off the charts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEkC6InjWQ8 I've had mixed enjoyment following the exploits of various Doctors under various showrunners since Russel T Davies left the …

I've just finished watching the second series of Annika, a police crime procedural starring Nicola Walker that aired on Alibi. On the face of it, it's your standard detective fare - each episode features a murder that needs to be solved, and a group of police at various levels in their career come together to solve it, whilst also dealing with their private lives. But there's more to this show …

The competition has started properly now, with our first full week of dancing - each couple taking to the floor and showing us what they can do. No one gets voted out in the first week, which means they get one more chance to impress us next week, but if I'm honest... I was impressed by almost everyone anyway! The start of the show was lovely, first featuring Amy in …

I just wanted to celebrate the fact that the Top of the Pops replays have started again on BBC Four, after taking an extended break to make way for the Proms. We'd just dipped our toes into the start of 1995 when the classical stuff took over but now we're back, and it's brilliant! Britpop is starting to emerge and breakthrough the dance numbers, we're still seeing warblers like Celine …

In July, I wrote about the first part of a multi-part canal walk, following the towpath between two cities: Birmingham and Worcester. The first part of the walk was a lot of fun, and I quickly followed it up with a second outing. That was less fun. I was saving writing about it until I could potentially combine it with a more fun third element, but time has been ticking …

I'll be upfront about it - I'm not expecting great things from this year's Strictly. Part of that is that I don't know many of the contestants, although that's not a dealbreaker. The last few years have seen me fall in love with lots of the contestants that I had previously never heard of, so not being too excited about the lineup at first glance might not be a problem. …

The US Open drew to a conclusion last week with a new champion on the women's side and the same old champ on the men's side. I wish I could say I watched and enjoyed it all but I didn't... the only way I managed to keep up with it was to have a copy of the draws, and read the news and scores each day to keep track. It's …

Love, love this comic strip by xkcd - the booping craze is really taking off and I'm here for it. Boop! Also love that these comics are creative commons and available to share so easily. Way to spread the love.

I've been fascinated by these minimalist movie posters I saw on Kottke. They're by graphic designer Michal Krasnopolski and are a challenge to present a movie poster with the limits of using only lines in and around a circle... and different colours. Something about this really makes me happy - the challenge of it, the idea of summing up everything about a movie to make it easily identifiable with such …

In this day and age of digital streaming and global access to content, it's almost confusing when you can't find something available. I have a short list of items that I want to watch, both film and TV, that aren't available to me at the moment, and every now and then, I ask Siri to have a quick scout around and tell me if they're available. Amazingly, Spin City, which …