Quentin Tarantino has such skill at drawing you in to a world, in to the characters, in to his quirky land of make believe. I can forgive this film its length, because it’s a western and that’s what they do. I loved the acting, I thought Christoph Waltz was brilliant. The style, oh so Tarantino, was fabulous and the story kept moving along apace.

It did exactly what it said on the tin, and had a stellar cast to push it along. I did think the beginning was drawn out, and if we hadn’t been looking for a bit of peace and quiet, it might have actually been boring. You know exactly where it’s heading, so it’s just going through the motions until they realise Sandra is the one person who can look nice in a dress. Once they got to the actual contest, it started to get more interesting. I liked it, Michael Caine was brilliant but it was predictable in places.

Somehow, this managed to be both the best and worst film ever. It was quite long, and it was full of children screaming and a lot of adults yelling at each other, and a heck of a lot of swearing. There were several scenes I just didn’t want to know about, and by the end, I had a headache and had to go outside for some fresh air.

I don’t keep an eye on the Kickstarter style projects nearly as much as I should, but recently stumbled across this one - a New York-based initiative called + Pool. They essentially want to build a swimming pool in the river, filtering the natural water and making it accessible to everyone. This seems like such a good idea, although I must admit, I wouldn’t want to walk along that big ol’ access path in just a swimming costume. But if that’s the only drawback, that’s good news!

I can get a bit stressed at using public transport for getting where you need to go, but as a recreational activity planes, trains and automobiles can be a lot of fun. I decided a while back that although my Alphabet Adventure is taking me to a lot of new places, I’m not always seeing what a city or town is really like, concentrating solely on where I have to go for that specific letter. To address this, I thought it would be fun to add a new Life List item, and visit as many open-bus sightseeing tours as possible.

And so, I’m done. If you’ve been following along, you might remember that May was a bumper month for running activities, including an epic 10k. Unfortunately, that 10k was the pinnacle, and the eventual downfall of my running career. Gradually, things got worse and worse, and at the end of my May monthly update, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about it. I completed four runs in June. The first was my attempt at a 5k, and it was bad but at least I completed the distance. The next was 1.4km, in which I had to stop and turn round, limping home with a painful thigh. I decided to take a full week off, and returned well-rested to complete a 30 minute run that felt a bit better. However, my last run was less than 3km, because the pain just came back again.

Can it only have been the start of June when Lillian was desperately trying to contact Paul and not getting any response? It feels like so long ago that she was finding out just how grumpy Paul could be, and then before you know it, he is dead. It’s slightly disappointing that we didn’t get to hear a big showdown with Matt revealing he knew all about it, but having said that, it’s also been interesting hearing his manipulation of Lillian as she goes through her own secret grief.

Up until that point, and after that point, I quite liked it. Just like in the third film, the partnership between the mismatched main two was great, I thought the daughter aspect to the story was well handled and not annoying like most of these situations can be. The ending let it down, but I didn’t come away from the film with too bad a taste in my mouth, whereas I really had been expecting the worst.

The word saga in the title is always going to be a bit intimidating, but actually this book (or compilation of books) was really easy to devour, and quite interesting too! Covering the sprawling family tree of Forsytes, we travel through several generations of marriage, divorce, births, deaths and more, watching as the family adapts to the changing world around it.

Loving the look of this trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis. Just three minutes of it is gorgeous viewing, I can’t imagine what the whole thing will be like. We’ve been catching a lot of films with bonus John Goodman in, and he always steals the show. I can’t guarantee that isn’t going to happen with this one, either.

I have a passing appreciation for all things narrowboat, a vague love of canals that has been passed down and slightly watered down from my parents more passionate fondness for them. I saw this book pass by on the Kindle store and thought it would be an interesting read - someone actually ditching their house and trying to set up a new life on the river. I can’t say this is something I would ever do, but living vicariously through someone else is what books are made for!

Google Reader shut down today, to mixed reactions from: “Finally!” to “Now to see what this alternative is like,” to “It’s 1st July already??” Thankfully, I was one of the middle batch. When Google first announced they would be closing their feed reader, I thought it was going to be the end of the world. Then for a couple of days I didn’t read any feeds at all, and figured that actually I could probably get on with my internet life quite well without them.

There were a range of options available to me for the R stop on my Alphabet Adventure, but when I realised it coincided with a trip I was taking to Brighton, it seemed to make sense that I visited the Royal Pavilion. To make things slightly more interesting, my parents were joining me for the visit too, so I got to enjoy the wonders of the pavilion with company. The Royal Pavilion was built by King George IV as something of a play home, showing off and trying to outdo everyone else in terms of style and decoration. There’s an odd visual straight away because the outside is very Indian in style, whilst the inside is all the reds, blacks, bamboos and dragons of China.

I said it at the beginning, and then at least six other times throughout, I find it incomprehensible that it is Anthony Hopkins in there. So different. So good. I think there was a lot that went over our heads here, having neither of us actually seen Psycho. The whole Ed Gein thing was understandable and clear enough but was probably more significant if you knew the story behind it. Regardless, you only really need to know the shower and that iconic noise and the rest takes care of itself.

As mentioned above, a film that starts with a lengthy explanation about the political situation with many different sides to the same argument is going to confuse me. I’m stupid like that. There were a few bits and pieces that I had to ask Mr C about but overall, the film wasn’t so much about that as the tense situation everyone involved was in. That bit I understood without question. The scene in the airport was like that Mission Impossible scene, you’re just holding your breath the entire time. Good film, I wasn’t sure I believed it all the way it was told, but there was plenty of seventies hair and glasses to distract me.

I didn’t know anything about this before I started reading, but was soon caught up in the trials and tribulations of this difficult man. From the very first incident, you’re in shock at what kind of person would split up his family like that, and therefore the rest of the story that follows feels as though it’s the least that is deserved.

With a trip to Brighton already on the cards, a need to add another sport to my Life List endeavour, and a timely reminder from the fabulous Lou, I found myself clutching tickets to the penultimate day of the Aegon International competition in Eastbourne. I made a slight error in entering the Devonshire Park grounds round the back, rather than the main entrance, which means when I was later in search of the ticket booths, I was too late to snap up any Centre Court tickets.

Oh, it’s just so good. Funny with a great story, and some moving sections as well. It’s odd and offbeat in places, without going too far. The characters are all well-done, lovely and/or hideous depending. The best thing about it is that even though we’ve each seen it a dozen times, there were still bits we picked up on that we hadn’t before. It just gets funnier each time.

I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy this one very much - the premise is a bit worrying. Four people meet on the roof of a building they are planning on jumping from and they form an unlikely group of survivors instead. However, it’s really very well done, despite the difficult subject matter.

I know for certain that I have started this book several times, but how far through it I have previously managed to get, I’m not sure. The whole thing is familiar, practically knowing the musical off by heart, and although there are differences between story and film, it’s mostly the Oliver we know and love.

Really fun film in the end, although it got off to a bit of a slow start. Once the characters started engaging with each other a bit more, it was a fun little ride. There’s obviously a few things that went over our heads, because so many different games are covered, you have to be a proper geek to get them all. But it was fun to spot what we could and then look up what we’d missed afterwards. The ‘all your base are belong to us’ graffiti might be my favourite.

Every now and again, I like to peruse the world of mugs. When I started this, I was barely drinking hot beverages and didn’t need much in the way of mugs. My tea consumption has sky-rocketed of late, and this week, when I found my Piglet mug, I figured it was time for a look at what was new. As a bit of a change, I decided to look at Etsy, where things get a bit more creative.

Complicated feelings about this one, which seems only right because it was a complicated movie! It certainly seemed to twist and turn a lot more than the others did, and it was quite a convoluted plot. The ending was a bit weird, too. But, having said all that, I really enjoyed the relationship between McLane and Zeus, their one-liners to each other were great throughout the film. The riddles were fun to play along with, particularly the water one, and overall it was just a fun movie to spend two hours with.

This was surprisingly good, a little romp through several heists as a team of career criminals search for an emerald that keeps on eluding them. Far from being bungling, they are good at what they do (and quite funny along the way) but circumstances make their lives just a bit more difficult.

Really enjoyed this quote from a not-so-recent episode of the Frank Skinner radio show. On the subject of the Tom Cruise film Oblivion, Frank was less impressed with one of the romance scenes. There’s love scenes in it. Why do they have to have love scenes in films like that? And they’re really cheesy, ooh baby type. I hate love scenes. Here’s the thing, if you like love scenes go see a romantic movie and enjoy. But you know what? When you’re watching that romantic movie, don’t blame me if two aliens come in and blow the couple to pieces…

Having completed the full works of Sherlock earlier this year, I was intrigued by this prequel idea - so little is known about Sherlock’s life prior to the books, Conan Doyle doesn’t give very much away. You have to take a leap of faith and accept that these have been sanctioned by the Doyle estate, because it’s essentially creating a whole new backstory for literature’s most famous detective.

I enjoyed reading this so much. The start of the book was all action/adventure, how is he going to escape from prison, and gradually it turned into more of a mystery - how exactly is he going to get revenge on all these people that have done him wrong? It was a page-turner throughout though, totally captivating.

Brilliant! So funny, loved it. Enjoyed with a glass of wine which made it all the better. So many funny bits and pieces, great quotables that we’re going to say to each other now, and a worrying amount of it that we related to. It felt very Gavin & Stacey, as in the main couple were amusing but it was really the cast and characters around them that made the best scenes. As a side note, I was happy they didn’t make Anna Faris over to look a bit less hippy in the end, I could have sworn that was going to happen.

It was better than I thought, a lot quieter, slightly awkward, quite moody, but interesting. We had a bit of a moment realising that the King and Queen were the same as those in the King’s Speech and that was fun. It’s not our normal kind of film at all, but it was gently amusing and perfect for our low-key requirements.

There was information at the beginning and at the end, but the real focus was on the stories. Ranging from simple looks at humanity as it was, or is now, to wild predictions about what the future could be like, there was a vast spread of interests. I found what I usually do with books like these - some I wasn’t that interested in, but those that I was, I ended up disappointed that the stories were so short!

I’m not a huge music video aficionado, but Mr C tends to point out those that catch his eye whenever he spots them. Recently, a new video from Kelly Clarkson emerged, for her single People Like Us, and it’s worth a look… for the wrong reasons. There’s an odd story about saving a colourful child from a world of black and white, but that’s not what I saw. I’m fully aware that product placement is part of how these things get funded, and I’m totally okay with that - if it is done with a bit of subtlety and/or restraint.

Here’s my random thoughts, in no particular order, about events in Ambridge in May: Kirsty boosts Tom’s morale when he really needs it, let’s hope he’s not going to have any rebound feelings in that direction. It would just be embarrassing for everyone involved. Josh gets a loan from his parents so he can buy a share in the chicken business, which puts Pip’s nose out of joint. She gets a reprieve from them, and still barely manages to spit out her thanks. It made her feel slightly better to beat her brother in the Single Wicket Competition, and I thought it was a fun coming together of characters to hear her complaining about brothers to Ed.

I’ve been making my way through several running books and, even those about running marathons, have something to them that an unfit jogger like me can understand. This one, however, it wasn’t at all relatable. This is all about ultramarathons and running for 100 miles at a time, up mountains and across deserts. It’s about pushing the body to its very limit, to try and find the breaking point, and step back just before you go too far. That’s not really my thing at all.

I’ve fallen a bit behind on trailers for upcoming films (or those coming soon to iTunes that I have yet to be aware of). That being the case, here’s a bumper crop of five trailers that recently caught my eye. Elysium A good bout of action, set in the future, with a dystopian Earth and Matt Damon? Sign me up right now. And what do I like just as much as dystopia? Well that would be time travel, and next up there’s a romantic comedy with a time travel element.

I don’t have an enormous amount to say about this one. It was good, not great but a reasonable way to pass the time. It wasn’t as good as the Marigold Hotel, but still had some interesting characters and a couple of chuckles along the way. I think the finer points were lost on us, classical music not really our thing, but it was still fun. Plus bonus Sheridan Smith!

Very mixed feelings on this one. Firstly, it was beautifully done, whether they were live action shots or the extensive amount of CGI, it was good to see the realism that is often missing in musicals. I was also very intrigued to see the strength of acting, whereas musicals tend to focus more on singing, this was absolutely the other way round. Seeing these characters and their real pain was incredible.

Not really very good at all. There weren’t many particularly sympathetic characters, and I was aghast at how all the soccer mom’s were portrayed. I know that’s a stereotype but it wasn’t handled well at all! The pace of the film was odd, it was predictable and had a very abrupt ending. I wasn’t really expecting it to be good, and even so it was disappointing.

Starting with the good news, I reached the halfway point of the “500 kilometres in one year” challenge. It’s quite a big achievement for me to have reached the middle mark, especially considering the slow start to the year I had! The gap between actual and target is also very heartening. The bad news is that running at the moment is a complete nightmare. There’s a big leap in that chart where I completed a 10k. It felt okay at the time, although I was a bit tired afterwards and needed an extra day or two to get back in my running shoes.

It was confirmed yesterday that Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who at the end of the year, after taking part in the 50th anniversary celebrations and a Christmas special that will feature the regeneration. I had pondered recently whether it was time for the show to have the change and shake-up that comes with a new Doctor, and it seems those in the know are on the same page. Three and a bit series is the magic number!

There are quite a few teenage/young adult books that are on the Big Read list, and normally I indulge in them like a guilty pleasure. This one seemed a little less interesting to me than some of the others. It had all the traditional stuff – parental angst, self-consciousness, endless trouble with boys and friends and boyfriends. But somehow, for me, it seemed to miss the mark.

I really enjoyed this one. It was confusing to start with, flipping between three points of view, although gradually I realised there was symbol at the top of each chapter that helped you figure out which character was sharing their point of view. Gradually it came together, anyway, and turned into a really gripping thriller.

It really wasn’t the film I thought it would be, far more ‘gritty’ for want of a better word. Yes there was the nudity and the swearing, but for a change it didn’t feel gratuitous. It was a bit depressing in places, but laid open the hideous Catch 22 of being the only pilot who can save lives, despite being open to criminal action for doing so.

I’m always intrigued by the desire to live in compact spaces - whether it is seeing how they manage to fit impressive buildings into small pockets of land on Grand Designs, or a great layout on a narrow boat. Today I stumbled across this video from Gizmodo, in which there is some great design thinking on display to make the most of zero space in a New York City apartment. I love these concepts, but I know immediately that I wouldn’t have the patience to pack and unpack everything each time I wanted to use it. I am quite messy by nature and like to just pick things up and put them down so they’ll be right there when I need them next time.

Football is still mostly a mystery to me, but I occasionally find matches on TV and leave them on so I can soak it up via osmosis. This weekend, the Champions League final was on TV, and we watched Bayern Munich - the only German team I have heard of - play another German team. At one point I recognised the name Schweinsteiger but that’s about as far as it went.

Recently, Mr C played me a music video that showed nothing but the lyrics of the song in question. I was a bit disappointed, thinking it was just like Adele’s Skyfall video. Whilst that was quite Bond, and an interesting experiment, I thought a video of only the lyrics was a bit… lazy. However, it turns out that there’s a craze for Official Lyrics Videos that run alongside their more traditional action-packed counterparts. For example, Pink’s Try video was very well received, with her contemporary dancing and beautiful imagery. Then there is the lyrics video which is stripped back, bare with just the words.

When Will Smith appeared on Graham Norton last time, he did the rap from Fresh Prince and it was brilliant. This time, he goes a step further. At first, it’s like… yea, he’s rapping with his kid, that’s cute. Then he does the Fresh Prince bit again. And then, it gets magical. I almost welled up, it was so good.

Picked this one up in a Humble Bundle and although it got off to a really slow start, the first few chapters were so intriguing that I had to keep reading. It gradually picked up the pace and ended up being a pretty good page turner. Showing off the really awful side of identity theft, it is one of those that makes you sit up and take notice and ponder if this could happen to you.

I’ve been trying to read this one for ages, little bits here and there, and I finally knuckled down and gave it a good go. I got nearly halfway through before I had to admit defeat. I just couldn’t follow any of it. I don’t mind the stream-of-consciousness style but it didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and it didn’t seem to make any sense at all.

I vividly remember watching the episode of Sex and the City where they finally revealed Mr Big’s name. It was such an intense letdown that I couldn’t believe it had been given the go ahead to be screened. I was so disappointed, and I wasn’t even that big a fan of Carrie and co. Thus, I approached this episode of Doctor Who with some trepidation, worried they would reveal our favourite alien’s name as Bob or Trevor or something. It wasn’t helped by the big hype machine calling this a gamechanging episode. I’ll be the judge of that, thank you very much.

Loved this, although not quite as much as Moneyball. I thought it was quite predictable in places, and although the emotional journey was interesting and incredibly well-acted, you could sort of see where it was going from very early on. However, we have recently been talking about how John Goodman steals every film he is in, no matter how small the part. Turns out that is not the case when Clint Eastwood is involved.