Where to begin with Indiana Jones? I have attempted to watch something of this franchise twice. The first time, I gave up because hello? There was a pit full of snakes. The second time, it was this film, with the shadows in the bar and I was taken aback by the bloody shoot-out. It wasn't what I was expecting and I switched it off, probably putting on a Friends DVD instead.

It turns out that Mr C had watched this at some point, and when I was feeling run down and exhausted after a morning of studying, I said I was ready for a nap. He countered with a new-fangled theory that instead of napping, an afternoon non-taxing Film Watch would do the trick, and this was just the title to test it out.

I have to say, I think I'm getting a bit old for proper scary movies now. I used to love a bit of horror but I was sure this would give me nightmares. It didn't, but it very well could have. It's a brilliant film, very well done, and terrifying in its simplicity. It's incredible to think the awful Prometheus came from this same world.

Another film I've seen before but not for a very long time. This was a late night choice, trying desperately to find something to fill the hours when I couldn't get to sleep. So, it's an odd one. It takes a while to adjust to the humour of the 80s, particularly as it's a difficult but genius concept I don't think you would get away with today!

This was another film that follows an autobiography, like Mandela, and sticks to it to the letter, showing the character up for all their faults. And it seemed like Mr Cash had a lot of faults.

I've seen this once before, and thought it was pretty good, but I couldn't remember an awful lot about it. Mr C was keen to watch it because of the crying at the end of Pitch Perfect. The second viewing for me showed that it was good, and I love the concept - just five kids spending the day together and getting to know each other.

To celebrate finishing my latest batch of exams, Mr C and I took a dash across the water to Dublin - a place we both love. A spot of sight-seeing, with ominous rainclouds overhead. It is Ireland, after all. The Spire of Dublin. As well as the occasional sight, we tasted the local wares. Our waitress brought us the wrong food and the wrong drinks, but eventually we got what …

This is a really charming story about a determined girl who wants to make a name for herself in the theatre, and put on her own production of a play she's written, as well as keep her family together and save the family farm. It's a big ask for a little girl, but it never seems totally out of the question. I really enjoyed reading this, following the story through its twists and turns, and the misunderstandings that occur along the way.

Quite a simple tale, this, the moral of the story being that just because you win the Lottery, doesn't mean all your dreams will come true. The story revolves around three friends who are struggling for money, until one of them wins the Lottery, becomes a multi-millionaire, and generously shares the wealth.

This is a really tricky one because from the outset I have to admit that I don't know as much about Nelson Mandela as I should. That admission is then the basis for my reaction to the film. I was nervous about watching it, because history and important topics scare me, I'm constantly convinced I'm not going to understand them and thus approach with caution.

After being unable to finish the last film we attempted, we opted to watch something we knew we'd like. Mr C knew he'd seen it before, I was convinced I had - although as the film played out, I realised I hadn't but knew it all from having read the book multiple times.

We've had a mind to work our way through the Jack Ryan films, having previously watched The Hunt for Red October, and enjoyed it enormously. There's a new one coming out soon, and although the films aren't really part of a series that must be watched in order, it felt like the right thing to do.

This wouldn't be my first choice in film watching but our reasons for indulging are threefold. 1) It's short. 2) It's easygoing for frazzled brains. 3) It has Emma Stone! I'm always keen to see Emma, even if it is a film that she probably would rather forget.

I didn't particularly want to watch this film. A fantastic cast and what looked like a good concept, but my god, have you seen those seventies looks? I wasn't keen on seeing my Bradley all dolled up with a perm, but in the end, the strong lineup of acting supremacy convinced me.

I'm not sure when or why I picked this book up, I think it might have been in a Kindle sale, and as a young adult dystopian fiction novel, it caught my eye. Reading it was an interesting experience because the reason behind the descent into dystopia was scarily believable and the follow-up situations completely understandable.

I picked this up on the back of a recommendation from a podcast, and it's the first time in a long while I've been interested enough to buy straight away - rather than add to a wish list and peruse at a later date. I started reading and was instantly hooked.

Interesting story this one, told from the perspective of an introverted schoolboy who gradually comes out of his shell. I thought it moved along with a great pace and structure, sometimes frantic things happening, other times wallowing in the loneliness of being ostracised. I wasn't 100% on board with just how many tears occurred during the story, but this is a world I've not really lived in.

This was an interesting one. An artist / support worker finds himself caught up in family drama, surrounded by death and searching for the truth. The story winds its way along, with a mix of fast-paced drama and then slow tick-tock waiting. It keeps you interested but I'm not sure I'm totally convinced.

The prologue to this Indian Ocean adventure had me intrigued, but then the idolisation of Moby Dick in the early chapters had the opposite effect. I wasn't a huge fan of the book, having only read it recently, but I do like these endurance/adventure stories and this seemed like a good one. Ben and James set out to row the Indian Ocean, a huge task, and along the way face nature head on in a battle to survive.

I didn't expect much from this film. The trailer looked interesting, but I thought it was kinda arty and probably without a gripping story. I wasn't sure it was going to by my kind of film at all. Boy, I was wrong.

It's a while ago that I read the first book in the 87th Precinct series, and I liked it so much that I snapped up quite a few of the rest of the series. It's taken me this long to get round to reading the second, but I liked it just as much as the first. There's a way McBain has of describing things that really make them take on a life of their own - I remember that from the first, it felt as though the city was just as much a character as the main protagonists.

I've heard Kurt Vonnegut's name mentioned occasionally but didn't really know what his books were about, or his style of writing. I quite enjoyed the book, I liked the back and forth nature, and obviously time travel appeals to me a lot. I liked the science fiction element played against the war scenes, although it was hard to reconcile both worlds.

I was curious to read this to see what David Walliams' writing was like, and really, any excuse for an easy-to-digest kids book is fine by me. I was suitably impressed. There are some great characters, really vivd and brought-to-life right off the page - Winnie and her respective reactions to chocolate and coffee, Gabz and her tomboy grace, even Mr Grey is absolutely as you think he should be.

As it turns out, this was a terrible film. The premise didn't make any sense, the story was full of holes and really just there as a tenuous thread to string far too many car chase scenes together. At one point, I didn't know which car had the good guys and which had the bad guys, and at that point, it all became meaningless.

You could tell it was a labour of love for JGL, written and directed by him, and starring him too. It wasn't the best film ever, but I did quite like the composition. The use of Mac noises against real life activities, the rather marvellous accents, the juxtaposition of church against the rest of his life.

What a great concept for this book - four strangers meet on a train and share their experiences of love and life, but mostly love. They each have a very different story to be told, but each rooted in finding love and holding on to it. On the journey from Edinburgh to London, they recount their tales.

My knowledge of Peter Pan comes mostly from general things, like Captain Hook and the ticking crocodile, or else from the movie Hook, which is more of a sequel than an adaptation. I think I tried to read this a couple of times as a kid, but couldn't get much past the first chapter.

It took a while for the characters to really come to life, but about halfway through, it seemed to kick into gear. I thought Octavia as Minny was fantastic, and Bryce as Hilly portrayed the terrible attitude perfectly. Emma was also great, but the film was stolen by the maids more than anyone.

CNET published an exclusive story about Nike's plans to shut down their FuelBand hardware section, including layoffs and a focus on software instead. This was rebuffed, sort of, by a spokesperson, although their quote was more about continued support of the existing bands, rather than expanding the line. We will continue to improve the Nike+ FuelBand App, launch new METALUXE colors, and we will sell and support the Nike+ FuelBand …

If you've been following my adventures online for any sort of time, you might already know that I haven't been big on the emotions. My Film Watch reviews, in particular, have shown that I've avoided getting swept up in romantic comedies, and those that are considered tearjerkers left me cold. Because everything is a Friends reference, I was kinda like Chandler. You may also have noted the past tense in …

I love the concept of this, how recipe books are so inexact and open to interpretation that they can sometimes be of no use whatsoever. The book is made up of what I assume is a collection of columns, a handful of stories and anecdotes about trials and tribulations in the kitchen at the hands of various recipe books.

The Verge posted a hands on video of the new CarPlay interface from Apple - Siri in your car, basically. It looks good. Well, no, it looks rubbish. But compared to what my current car does (which is nothing) and what other cars look like (which is awful), it's not a bad step up. The crucial thing about this new wave of in-car tech is that they are apps, they …

Somehow, I managed to get to this point in my life without seeing this film. Mr C was pretty aghast when he found this out, and nagged me to see it. Mostly, so I would start getting some of the references we have seen in other things. Eventually, with a glass of wine in hand, I succumbed.

If I hadn't recently had something of a heart-thawing, this probably would have dropped off our radar before we got to watch it. I'm always interested in what Judy does, and Steve Coogan is great, but it's one of those that we might never have got round to.

Really enjoyed this, although it got a little bit macabre towards the end. I didn't know what to expect as the story unfolded, and it was fascinating to see the twists and turns it took along the way. I thought the court case was particularly interesting, as it was explained exactly how the events unfolded and how the result was obtained.

I seem to be going through a period of consuming media about segregation and racism, but none of them have so far hit home quite like this one. I wanted to read the book before seeing the film, and I'm glad I did. The differing perspectives add so much to the narrative, and to the conflict - between both the employer and employee, and within the help themselves.

It did feel a bit short, not that anything was missing, but just that there's scope for the characters and the story to be developed into a full-length novel. However, I equally appreciate the novella for not taking up too much of my time, and for giving me an interesting read with something to think about after putting it down.

It was a completely different film to the one I expected to see. Quirky and very unbalanced, more violence than I'd anticipated, and a likeable yet unrealistic family setup. There was no reason to root for this family, as they all seemed to be pretty terrible people, and it was probably the strength of the acting rather than the script that kept you hoping they'd get a reasonably happy ending.

Time is my enemy at the moment. Life is a repetition of work, study, Sidepodcast, sleep. It is always better to be busy than bored, but frazzled is the word I’m choosing to use at the moment. With that in mind, here are a few things I’ve been using to try and make life a bit easier. News The Yahoo News Digest app intrigues me greatly, because I always think …

I do so love these History in an Hour books, everything you need to know about a particular topic in bitesize form. Their self-proclaimed aim is to distill a topic or period from history down into the must-know facts, so that if you enjoy it, you can then go on to read more from other sources.

I really loved the concept of these short stories - building up to the fiftieth anniversary, a short story for each iteration of the Doctor, written by a different children's author. The collector in me had to wait for the set to be finished before I even embarked, and I was a bit disappointed that the first was written by Colfer - having not particularly enjoyed the first of the Artemis Fowl series.

We only ever got halfway through the trailer for this one, knowing that it looked like a good film with a pretty stellar cast, and not wanting to spoil the rest of the film. I didn't realise it was based on a true story until it started, and it was kinda hard to believe it was... because all the way through the film, it was like watching a different version of Forrest Gump. Which I'm reliably informed isn't a true story.

I've seen a few reviews for this book saying it's unlike Lynda La Plante's usual work, more like a Catherine Cookson, and thus it has had a mixed response. I've not read any of her work before, so I wasn't anticipating anything but I still wasn't completely convinced by what I read.

I was half dreading reading this, for no good reason as I didn't know anything about it except it was on my Reading List. As it turns out, it was quite an enjoyable read, although as with a handful of the books I'm reading at the moment, it was full of angst and ultimately quite depressing.

I somehow managed to watch the documentary with Victoria Coren before I saw the film, but it barely spoiled anything and I was still eager to watch. I have Film Watched Mary Poppins and although I wouldn't say I massively love it anymore, it does still hold a special place in my heart. Mr C, meanwhile, has never seen it, although is aware of some of the larger concepts, like Supercali... etc.

Ah, how I love this book. I'm a fan of Roald Dahl's anyway, but this is one that I really enjoy. The story is simple and charming enough, and it's always nice to know that the Sophie character is based on a real life little girl, but the joy in this book for me is the language.

This was a really good read. Where vampires are all the rage at the moment, this was in a class of its own. It had the subtlety of Dracula, but equally the action, characterisation and even gore that you want of a modern book. I thought Oskar was a great protagonist, wide-eyed and innocent yet vengeful and conflicted.

What I found interesting was how similar it was to the first book, kids are in severe poverty, chosen for games, go through the games, and yet not at all boring. There's an underlying current of threat throughout this film that adds to the sheer torment of the games, and helps steer the story to its conclusion.

I hadn't heard of this one, so probably wouldn't have picked it up if it hadn't been in my reading list. I'm glad I did, because it's interesting to see what dystopian teen fiction was like before the recent glut of Hunger Games style madness. Whilst it's a good book, very readable and with some interesting characters, I wasn't left feeling very happy at the end.

Having enjoyed the TV show The Paradise, I bought the book that started it all but it took me a long time to get round to reading it. Once I got into it, I really enjoyed it, although I thought it was a story of two halves that didn't quite seem to connect. The first part is all about the struggle that is had outside the department store, by the independent shop owners and Denise herself when she is dismissed. The second part is all love story, with barely a reference to the economy at all.