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 challenges, but there was a small problem - up until recently, I didn’t have access to a guitar. But now I do! It’s not super fancy or anything, but a basic acoustic guitar and a Yousician subscription should get me through the next thirty days.

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 the whole course in the month.

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 doing battle with his curly wig.

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 necessarily been my cup of tea, but there have been a couple I’ve liked and just not really been bothered about.

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 - it’s not an addiction that sucks up too many hours, but I do check in on the game regularly and get a quick fix of micro-managing those little idiots.

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 place to park the existing show.

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 wonderful characters and did, ultimately, culminate in the cliffhanger to usher in the next DW era.

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 thought I’d add my thoughts to them too.

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 when it’s needed.

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 theme tune was going to work, and I couldn’t remember that Line of Duty had a theme tune anyway - but as always, judgement had to be withheld until we’d seen the performances on the dancefloor.

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 but for now, I had to settle for just browsing the online store.

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 I couldn’t be happier about it.

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.

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 for about six months!

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 year.

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 in her.

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 were dull, dull, dull. If it wasn’t Star Wars and the lovely Diego Luna, I don’t think I’d have carried on watching. I’m not sure if they just took too long in the world-building, or if the characters just weren’t that interesting, but it wasn’t until Cassian had left the planet and started on his current adventure that things picked up. And let me tell you, it’s a significant fail to make the fantastic Fiona Shaw a weak link in a show.

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 made up for it, and led us straight into the dancing.

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.’

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 of it. But it does also make it quite tricky to know what to watch. It’s not about sitting there bored and saying ‘oh, I wish there was something to watch’, now it’s about ’there’s so much out there, what do I start with?’

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 inhabit a suburban two-bed, but that this insular-style building might be more of a draw.

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 first place.

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 so many mistakes this week, right from the start… everyone’s forgotten how to do the live shows. But they’ve remembered how to dance and that’s all that matters.

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 International Sign Languages day on September 23rd.

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 on rain, although the final walk of all 30 was in horrible wind and drizzly conditions. Not a great way to finish but could have been much worse!

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 called Life’s A Beach that talked to a different celebrity each week about their favourite travel destinations, tips and experiences. It was specifically launched in lockdown, revelling in the talk about holidays where real life wouldn’t allow the practicalities of actual travel.

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 on the watch.

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 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 the box.

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 initial thoughts sink in and get some anticipation going for what to expect.

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, you absolutely can’t judge what a year is going to be like based on their pictures alone.

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.

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 the stats for a workout, eg. most calories burned, furthest distance travelled, etc. Now there is a similar setup but exclusively for the Fitness+ collection, celebrating types of workout tried, number of each and total altogether, plus an intriguing workout streak. If there’s anything I love more than a badge, it’s a streak.

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 being surprised when six months later I find a useful bit of functionality.

To celebrate the start of the third series of Central Park, which started on Apple TV last Friday, I revisited the soundtracks to the first two seasons and decided to put together a playlist with the best songs from both seasons. I thought it was going to be a really slimmed down version of all the available albums, but actually it’s still ended up being close to two hours long.

By all accounts, the film industry is going through a bit of a lull right now. Some of that is no doubt due to the ongoing health and safety effects relating to the global pandemic, but there’s also talk of an issue around the huge television spectaculars (hobbits, dragons, superheroes and outer space, you know the type), plus certain streaming platforms snapping up their own VFX companies and thereby getting priority treatment.

I’m ten days in to this month’s challenge and so far quite enjoying it. The plan was simply to get outside and walk for at least ten minutes every day and so far I’ve not managed less than 15 minutes, not so much because of enthusiasm but more because that’s just how long the short ‘routes around the block’ take. It’s nice though, getting outside, getting some fresh air, breaking up the day.

I am so in love with Welcome to Wrexham, currently airing in the slightly odd pattern of two episodes a week on Disney+. I usually try and wait to the end of a series before writing about it but there’s been so much good stuff packed into the first six episodes, we’re going to have to do a part one, at least.

Apple held their traditional September event today, focusing in on three main areas: Watch, AirPods, and iPhone. The event was called Far Out which led a lot of people to think they were improving night photography but, it turns out, the space age part of the programme was about reaching out to satellites in an emergency. More on that in a moment, instead, let me start with the things I might actually get some use from.

The last time I wrote about Stranger Things, I’d just absolutely whipped through season two and apparently loved the whole thing. I don’t have a huge recollection of that now, but that’s what the blog is there for! My recent rekindling of the Netflix love affair means I’ve caught up on season four now, so potentially I have two seasons to talk about… but I don’t remember a lot from the last one.

I recently finished watching the new series from Stefan Goleszewski on the BBC called Marriage. It got mixed reviews because it’s steeped in the trademark of Goleszewski’s work - understated, quiet, and calm alongside real, moving and insightful. Previously, I’ve enjoyed Stefan’s first breakthrough Him & Her, although I have tried to revisit that before and found it just a bit too cutting. The sister is too mean, the neighbour too easy a target. Which is on me for being too sensitive but is also a shame because I love Russell Tovey enormously.

This is typical me. My Apple Watch fitness goal for August was based on completing a certain number of kilometres across the course of the month. I achieved it, just, but have now decided for September, I’m going to do a bit of walking every day. If I’d done this last month, I’d have easily achieved that badge. Oh well.

I don’t know if it’s just me but August has felt really long. In some ways that’s good, we’ve enjoyed some good weather (we’ve also endured some heatwaves) but also plenty of daylight, sunshine, and generally good vibes to offset the never-ending stream of bad news in the country and the world. My challenge this month was to try and eat a salad every day for lunch, 30 Days of Salads, if you will. I knew it wasn’t going to be completely practical and there was bound to be the odd day off, but in the end I only missed three salads. None of them were due to hangovers, which I give myself a pat on the back for. Instead, it was two separate days out which weren’t feasible for salads, and then one day at work where I hadn’t the energy to get prepared in time.

I don’t know if this has always been the case, but I’m loving how much information Nasa is providing about the Artemis I mission. I know they’ve always had to be very open as a government organisation, and I’ve always been quite grateful for the free pictures, videos, podcasts and other media they have offered up, but there’s so much more to discover as well.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show as a family catch-up day out. It’s a farm show located between those two towns and it’s been going for a long, long time. It’s not a huge show but it’s well stocked with cows and sheep being judged, lots of tractors, some old steam engines, plus plenty of independent stalls from people selling their high quality wares. I loved having a good nose around the various stands, and I think I was quite self-controlled to only come away with a couple of arty animal postcards.

There are so many slightly odd things about Only Murders in the Building that it’s incredible it works at all, let alone is really, really good. First off you have the bizarre addition of Selena Gomez to a more understandable duo of Steve Martin and Martin Short. But together, they are brilliant, her dry sarcasm against their bumbling enthusiasm and/or ineptitude works perfectly. Then you have the fact that they started out as true crime podcast fans before getting mixed up in a real life murder mystery of their very own, in one of those old-school self-contained apartment buildings where there’s a doorman and a code of conduct and probably a dress code and more. The first series follows the trio solving a murder in the building, the second series sees them framed for a second death, and the third… well, we’ll get to that in a minute.

Earlier in the year, I cancelled my Netflix subscription as a temporary measure because, you know, cost saving, and the sheer volume of streaming TV out there to watch. However, I’ve saved up enough things to need to watch on there to make it worth a month of streaming, then I imagine there’ll be another pause to be ended just in time for the next adventures in the Netflix Christmas Universe.

One of the things the TikTok algorithm thinks I like is watching people create their junk journal pages. It can be quite relaxing, but what I really like is having been introduced to something I didn’t know existed. It’s not a new concept but it had passed me by - effectively filling the pages of various notebooks and sketchbooks with collections of… for want of a better word… stuff.

Last year, the American country music singer Eric Church released a triple part album, entitled Heart & Soul. Each of those three words was the title of one part of the album, and they were released over the course of about a week. At the time, I listened to the albums a little bit reluctantly. Heart came first, and then & was released only as a vinyl release, so I said: “Already I’m on the back foot as I’m not going to be able to hear the middle part of this trilogy… nevertheless, I figured it couldn’t hurt to give the first part a go, and I’m glad I did.”

I’m a fan of the moon. Weird thing to say, I know, but I love that big grey rock up there just minding its own business and inspiring astronauts all over the world to want to step on it. I’ve been ignoring space travel news (other than the fictional For All Mankind style stuff) for a good few years and I guess it feels like an odd time to be getting back into it again, what with the planet we’re actually on burning up quicker and quicker every day - who are we to sink billions in the atmosphere between here and our nearest orbital neighbour?