I can hardly believe it but today, 12th December, marks my 20th anniversary of blogging. Two decades of me blathering on about TV and books and films and baking and the moon and any other inane thought that comes into my head. It’s been an absolute rollercoaster of a ride and there’s still so much more to write about and discover. In celebration of this milestone, I had a look …

My new year goal for 2022 was to complete some 30 day challenges, try out some new things, get some habits forming, generally be industrious throughout the year. I completed 11 30 day challenges some of which have formed habits which have stuck, some of which I never want to revisit again, and some which were good but probably need another go. I think it’s been a really successful year …

We've reached the quarter finals and it's Musicals week, one of the best on the Strictly calendar - hooray! Kym & Graziano are back in action so it's a full house... although there are only six couples remaining at this point, so it's a slimmed down show that will see who gets through to the semi-finals. The opening montage of various musicals was fantastic - Johannes as a Pink Lady …

Thirty days of guitar completed and I'm a pro now! Just kidding, I can play some of the easier chords and attempt to play some of the other easy ones and pick the occasional note from a string. There's a long, long way to go. One of the things I was really worried about with this challenge was that I knew how much playing guitar can take a toll on …

Back from Blackpool and in the ballroom we know and love, this is a regular dancing week before we hit another theme next week - Musicals week! Sadly Kym couldn't perform today due to testing positive for Covid, so she technically gets a free pass to next week and at this stage in the competition, I really think that's a huge advantage! Nevertheless, we still had six glorious couples dancing …

This week, the final episode of Andor streamed on Disney+ bringing to a close a 12 episode season that is one of the best Star Wars creations since Rogue One (not counting Baby Yoda, obviously). Whilst I have my obsession with the Mandalorian firmly in mind, I have to admit that the quality of this series of Andor really shone through from start to finish. Okay, not quite the start, …

For the first time in three years, Strictly was back in the Blackpool ballroom with everything that comes with that - echoey vocals, additional dancers, fish and chips, rollercoasters, and everyone talking about how important the seaside town is to the world of ballroom dancing. Even though we're all a bit cynical about just how much everyone bangs on about Blackpool, it's still quite exciting to see how much they …

It was August when I last wrote about Nasa's Artemis mission and the ongoing delays of launching. Those delays kept on coming but wahey, the rocket finally lifted off this week and the Artemis Orion craft is finally on its way to the moon. Apparently it will be tomorrow when the ship reaches its closest proximity to the moon, 80 miles, before heading into orbit. The latest official Nasa update …

The last episode of the latest true crime dramatisation A Friend of the Family aired this week, and I think it brought to a conclusion an incredible series that has really been well constructed from start to finish. The series tells the true life tale of the Broberg family - something that has already been covered in a documentary and a podcast, apparently, I have not consumed either of them, …

I had planned to do a quick update halfway through my 30 days of guitar challenge, I’m a couple of days late but let’s do it anyway. It’s really just to note down a few of the things I’ve found over the first half of the month: I was really worried about the tips of my fingers being painful and potentially prohibitive to playing every single day, but the good …

There are a lot of problems with the clothing industry for women - sizing inconsistencies, promotional angles, impact of fast fashion - but one of the biggest issues is the lack of pockets. This isn’t new news, it’s been a vocal complaint from many women for years: where are my pockets? There’s no good reason that suit trousers or jackets or skirts or anything don’t have pockets. Or worse, they …

It's Blackpool next week, in case you missed one of the hundred references to it in this week's show. Time to get your drinking games on! Blackpool... DRINK! A fact I heard during the week on It Takes Two was that four of the six couples who have left the show so far have gone out on a Charleston, making it the danger dance of the series so far. Ellie's …

Duolingo have been rolling out a new format to their free language learning app, with a more structured approach than previously. I've been using the app on and off for years, and have loved it, it's been my go to for language learning. The new path rolled out to me this month, as it did to most others, having been in testing and beta for a while, and the reaction …

The miniseries Black Bird starring Taron Egerton was released back in August and although I heard all the positive reviews and expected it was going to be a good watch, it took a while to get round to it. I don't know if anyone's mentioned it but there's a LOT of good TV out there at the moment, it's hard to know what to prioritise! But anyway, I've finally raced …

I love it when green spaces pop up in unusual locations, so was interested in the Castlefield Viaduct green space initiative run by the National Trust. The Manchester viaduct was built in the 1800s and was part of the Industrial Revolution, but has since taken a back seat in priority and was closed in 1969. Now the intention is to make the whole area a spot of green amongst Manchester’s …

Strictly went back to normal this week, no theme, just songs and dances. I was ill, though, so didn't watch it live. Instead I caught up later, and in a particularly grumpy mood, so who knows if I enjoyed the dances as much as I normally would have with a glass of wine. Claudia seemed to have rocked up in her pyjamas, but they were very snazzy so I was …

November has arrived and with it comes the dark nights, cold weather and general feeling that hibernation would be the right choice for any sensible person. Unfortunately, that’s not really an option, so instead, it’s time to come up with another 30 day challenge to get me through the month. This time? Guitar! Hooray! This has been on the list since I first started thinking about doing many thirty day …

I wasn't sure how October's 30 day challenge was going to go - learning sign language with this online course. The guidance suggests really taking your time so I didn't want to rush through and set artificial deadlines when all I really wanted to do was explore the language. However, I was at a massive advantage being able to fingerspell already, so it became an achievable goal to get through …

We're not quite back to normal with Strictly yet, after last week's slightly bizarre and trying-too-hard 100 year birthday theme, this time it's the more traditional Halloween. The costume, hair and make up teams really pulled out all the stops for this, it was clear as soon as the couples started descending the stairs. And the judges! They all looked incredible too, even if Anton spent most of the show …

One of the innovations Apple Fitness+ feature is artist spotlight workouts, where all the music on the workout playlist are from one specific artist, giving you a chance to really celebrate with your favourite artists or get into the groove with a specific vibe. If I’m honest, I’ve not been a big fan of these, but I don’t have a good reason for that. Some of the featured artists haven’t …

Last time I wrote about The Sims, I had just discovered my purchase of The Sims 4 and dived into the game, a little late to the party as always. I finished off that post saying ‘The trick now is to not let it take over my life while I see what it’s all about.’ I think I finally managed to get a good Sim balance in my life - …

With Doctor Who in the news recently following the excellent farewell to Jodie Whittaker’s iteration of the character, it wasn’t a surprise when Disney+ announced they would be the home of the show in the US, rather than BBC America. It’s a big streaming platform and the connection makes some sense. I wasn’t expecting further details to emerge of this deal which turns out to be more than just a …

It's been a while since I purposely sat down and watched an episode of Doctor Who live as it aired on TV, but the combination of Jodie Whittaker's last episode and the promise of centenary celebrations from the BBC made me think this was one to make the effort for. And it turns out, it really was. A ninety minute special, the show was packed full of great story and …

There’s been a growing feeling of dissent amongst Great British Bake Off viewers for a few years now - the challenges are getting too hard, we want to go back to basics, there’s nothing wrong with 12 different takes on a basic sponge cake. This year it seems to have hit harder than ever, wherever I look I see complaints about how hard the show is this year. So I …

In September, I wrote about the latest updates that iOS 16 brought to the Apple Books app, in particular a consternation about the stupid cross in the corner ruining the reading experience. Well, thank goodness, they’ve fixed it. This week saw a raft of updates to various devices, and as ever, I’m grateful to have a nerd in the house to make sure everything is up to date as and …

We've got a bonus theme week this time round with the BBC celebrating 100 years and Strictly jumping right into the fun. When the list of songs and dances were revealed, it was quite eye-opening. Our stars would be dancing to a variety of BBC theme tunes and related songs and some of them looked like they would be more successful than others. I couldn't see how the Grange Hill …

While dreaming up ideas for potential 30 day challenges, I pondered whether thirty days of Lego would be something that could work. I love the sets they do featuring elements from popular culture - a lot of fun and nostalgia all in a handful of plastic bricks. It didn't take long to drop the idea because have you seen how expensive these sets are? Maybe one day in the future …

I wrote about Welcome to Wrexham after the first few episodes, gushing with love and admiration at a great series - particularly one about football. That all stands up now that the series has completed, it only served to get better and better. The stakes got higher, the emotional rollercoaster more incredible, and we cheered and cried along with everyone involved. Fantastic. It’s coming back for a series two and …

We need to talk about Bad Sisters. This Apple TV+ show had all the hallmarks of being a promising comedy-drama, coming from the creative mind of Sharon Horgan and being firmly based in and around Dublin. The first episode was intriguing and instantly had me hooked and the show honestly just got better and better until an extremely satisfying and cathartic finale. Chronicling the fight five sisters had to rid …

It felt like a bit of a comedown this week after the fun and games of movie week, but there were lots of tunes to behold this week and some great outfits... and also Ellie dressed like a bizarre Little Bo Peep. But I'm getting ahead of myself. During the intro, Anton brought out his NTA award for judging - Craig must be fuming, the guy's only been doing it …

If the weather is anything to go by, we're fully into autumn now. We're either having those glorious days where the sun is shining but the air is brisk, or it's absolutely hammering it down giving the earth some much needed moisture. I'm seeing plenty of info out there about things you can still do in your garden, but I have to admit I've lost a bit of steam this …

I had mixed feelings going into this series - I was curious how they would give She-Hulk a believable origin story in a short time, and somehow keep that alongside the legal drama that it was promised to be. However, it looked like it was going to be fun and Tatiana Maslany is absolutely outstanding so I knew whatever it did turn out to be we could at least trust …

The latest Star Wars TV offering, Andor, reached its sixth episode this week on Disney+, and that's the halfway point of the series. It seems like a good time to take a moment and review what we've seen so far because, boy oh boy, it's been a rollercoaster of a ride. Firstly, I totally understand why three episodes were released at once in the first week... because the first two …

Movie week! I'm always surprised how quickly the first theme week rolls in but I was ready for it this time - bring on the costumes! The opening number from the professionals didn't really get me in the mood, though, I have to say. I don't know Encanto, it's still on the 'to watch' list, but it wasn't a rip-roaring number which is a shame. However, the Anton glitterball heist …

We live in a world of reduce, reuse, recycle, and that can be difficult even when you're talking about quite small household objects. It gets even harder when you start thinking about very niche, very complex robots built for a specific purpose. Of course my eye was attracted to this story, about a potential Mars rover that's 'looking for a new job.' The headline is obviously leaning in to the …

There's been a marked decline in Film Watch posts recently and that's not coincidentally timed with the fact that all the TV out there at the moment is SO GOOD. The amount of choice and content available on TV and via streaming services just keeps growing and growing, and not only that, it keeps getting better and better. It's fantastic, we're living in a golden age of TV, I'm sure …

I wrote recently about the new The Line building revealed as a concept design based in Saudi Arabia. Whilst I was busy marvelling at the structure's size and scope, I hadn't considered two additional reasons why buildings like this might be the future. I did touch upon the fact that you'd be hard pushed to convince people to live in the Saudi Arabia desert if they're just rocking up to …

Apple released a press release announcing they have hit 100 million songs on their Apple Music streaming service yesterday, which, by my calculations, is quite a lot. The release is your traditional back-patting piece but there are some interesting little nuggets in there that caught my attention. The first is about the history of music and how it's possible we even have this many songs to play with in the …

We had fun last week, but this was the real start of the competition where things hot up and someone has to go home. I managed to swot up via It Takes Two in a hurried fashion over just a couple of days, so I was ready to be super knowledgeable about everything. Except then you get to the live show and anything can happen! It felt like there were …

Last year, when Rose won Strictly, I was one of those people who had been completely intrigued by sign language and curious about learning some myself. I didn't do anything about it at the time, and somehow an entire year has passed, but my thoughts returned to the subject when Rose popped up on this year's launch show, and then a small amount of research later highlighted that it was …

My 30 days of walking has come to an end, and this was a challenge that I really enjoyed. It was nice to have the oomph to get outside every day and nice to know that it didn’t have to be a long walk… although sometimes it was. September was a pretty reasonably month for weather, so I was quite lucky. Only a couple of my outings were in full …

One of the reasons I drifted away from podcasts in the last few years was due to the vast amount that were just celebrities interviewing other celebrities. It all got a bit circular, especially during lockdown when our favourite stars didn't have much else to do. My podcast of the month this time is one of those though, because it's too good not to mention. Alan Carr started a show …

Sleep is one of my most favourite and precious things and one of the benefits of being child-free is that it's a commodity I can have plenty of - although never enough, obviously. Tracking sleep has been endlessly fascinating to me for a good while now, from those apps that suggested you pop your phone under your pillow to see how it's going, to the first tracking introduced by Apple …

One of the things Apple Fitness+ opened my eyes to was how much work needs to be done on making things accessible. They've done a great job with on screen graphics, presenters learning sign language, lots of options for various body types and abilities and more. There's always more to be done but it's also fascinating to see other fitness providers adapting as well. I've subscribed to Les Mills on …

I totally missed this when it was announced a couple of months ago, but the new huge building called The Line that was revealed as an innovative concept design is really bizarre and interesting. It's based in Saudi Arabia and it's not without it's problems, but I do love it when people start thinking outside the box for architecture and living conditions. Or in this case, it's more like inside …

I can't decide whether it's better or worse to have had the launch show only the day before the first live show. On the one hand, the launch show gets you all excited and you don't have to wait long to see the amazing teams in action. On the other hand, it's quite nice to have a bit of time to ponder how they're going to do, to let those …

We've been delayed by a week but finally Strictly Come Dancing is up and running for 2022, and boy do we need a bit of sparkle in our lives right now, huh? If you take away the slightly dodgy overdubs where Tess had to reference 'tomorrow' rather than 'next week' it was the perfect show, proving as always that just because you only know one or two of the cast, …

In the first ten days of walking, I was really all about no pressure, just getting outside and trying to be consistent about it. The next 10 days have been a bit more adventurous and have seen me explore different routes around my immediate start point, try out some longer routes when time allows, and more importantly than anything, walk with some wildlife. I didn't know alpaca walks were a …

In the latest updates to both watch and phone, Apple have paid a lot of attention to health and fitness with updates to sleep tracking, accident detection and workout setups. One thing I hadn't realised is that they've also added a whole range of new badges based on your Fitness+ activity. I love badges! There have long been awards for trying your first of a new workout type, or maximising …

Apple released watchOS 9 and iOS 16 this past week which usually means a hideous evening of updating all the gadgets and running around looking at progress bars every which way. But it's usually worth it for what the new release brings and this year, I'm determined to actually make the most of it and fully understand what upgrades have arrived, rather than just getting on with my day and …