This week, I did good. I ran on Monday and Wednesday and Friday. I didn’t do anything in between, which isn’t really sticking to the plan, but hey, running more. Go me! I had Friday off work, which meant I had some time to do a longer run. I also needed to do a longer run due to some over-indulgence during Film Watch the night before. So, I started slow, and I ran and I didn’t really have a plan in mind. I got to 5k, and thought it would be really good if I could get past the 6.79km that has been haunting me since last time. I got that far, and figured I might as well try and get to the 8.06km which is my longest to date. And, once I got there, I was still surviving and decided that as I’d come so far, I might as well try and go all the way.

This was good, action packed, full of intrigue, flip-flopping sides, and some good dialogue along the way. My only complaint is that it was actually too full of all that stuff. There was never a moment to take stock of what you were seeing. At the end, Mr C and I thought we needed to discuss it to figure out what had gone on - but it actually only took two sentences. It wasn’t complicated, it’s just there hadn’t been any time to process.

It’s no secret that I like whiteboards. I used to scrawl on one during live shows of Sidepodcast, and I was quick to nab one going spare at work. The trouble is, wherever I go, there seems to be a fundamental inability to stick things on walls. Whether it is because I am in rented accommodation, or because my desk is not near a wall, these small boards are always precariously leaning and almost impossible to write upon.

I turned my nose up when I heard about the Monsters Inc sequel idea. Not a sequel at all, but a prequel looking back at the monsters when they were at university together. Bah! What nonsense. What cashing in. But a teaser trailer is out, and I laughed out loud. Twice! I forgot how much I love Mike.

My knowledge of this book was simply that I knew it had been made into a TV programme and possibly a film. One of those that is adapted for the screen, I thought, it can’t be too bad. When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be another Great Gatsby - an enigmatic individual, those around him desperate to be acknowledged, things go a bit awry, etc, etc.

I really rather enjoyed it. I wasn’t expecting much, to be honest, but it was entertaining. It was a bit clunky in places, particularly at the beginning as it found its stride. ‘Most people would struggle with prison, especially a cop.’ Oh right, he’s a cop then. Clunk. It also took us a while to recognise anyone in the film, but it was quite fun to see them all revealed gradually. Isn’t that Billy Elliot? Yes! Isn’t that the woman from the The Next Three Days)? Yes! Etc, etc.

Recently, an underground house in the Swiss Alps started doing the rounds on the web. The house has one side facing out to the world, similar to the property in the Grand Designs episode I live-blogged about previously. The rest is buried underground so as not to prove an eye-sore in the beautiful landscape. Apparently, Swiss planning laws say you have to have a timber frame version of the building put up on site before they will grant it. For this underground house, they skipped that part!

My weekly updates are more often than not becoming fortnightly, but that’s okay, there has been so little to report of late. This week has been a complete washout because back pain has stopped me doing anything more than walking like a robot and sitting. I don’t really know what happened, I thought at first I had just slept funny. I went for a run that first day but then as the night wore on, the pain got worse and worse.

It’s not a secret that I don’t buy into the birthday card thing, I only just about buy into the birthday thing! However, sometimes there’s a card that is just about perfect. This, from my mum and dad. So true, Mr Goose, so very true.

Something odd is happening to my taste in audio entertainment. Since the dawn of podcasting, I have stockpiled episodes - subscribing to everything I might take an interest in, listening to make sure it’s my kind of thing, and then not worrying if I don’t get round to listening again for months. For me, the content had to be good, it didn’t necessarily have to be timely. My life has gone through cycles of having lots of time to listen, to very little time, and where sometimes the list of unlistened to shows would stack up, occasionally I’d catch up and be searching for potential new subscriptions.

Unfortunately, for the first half of this book, I wasn’t sure that Howard Pyle’s version of the legend was going to deliver. Every story seemed to be about one or other member of the band going for a walk, finding someone else, challenging them to a duel, losing and thus inviting them to be part of Robin Hood’s group. For a while, I thought the band were going to swallow up the whole county!

It looked very stylish and had all the makings of a good spy film, but I just didn’t get it. I thought I was following okay, but about halfway through things started to unravel and then I lost the plot completely. It had some great conversations when things were a little more relaxed - Leo and the two boys talking about the food, and some of the amusing moments with Ed and Roger - but they were lonely bright spots in a really heavy going movie.

The final book in the original Inspector Frost series is just as captivating as the previous novels, but keeps on going down the path of getting darker and more horrifying. I’d saved this one for ages, after reading the previous five books in the series - perhaps I didn’t want to say goodbye to the character just yet. I know there is another book or two written by a different author, which I will probably cast an eye to, but it’s not going to be the same.

After the last edition of my tea tasting adventure, my dad emailed me about the Twinings website, which offers you the chance for some free samples. You get to choose two different flavours and they’ll be sent to you in the post. I opted for two flavours that I thought I wasn’t going to like - thinking that if they were as I expected, I wouldn’t have an entire packet of tea I didn’t want. This was the first envelope I’ve ever gotten with a best before date on!

When the Kindle Fire initially came out, we saw ebooks the way they should be - nice layouts, gorgeous pictures, crisper graphics. The fact-filled and informative Pocket F1 book made use of the new table designs and looked all the better for it. Sadly, the Kindle desktop apps and the original devices were left behind with less snazzy tables, but that has all changed thanks to Amazon’s latest Kindle update. The new version (4.1.0) should be rolling out to customers gradually, or you can head to that link and update manually if you’re tricksy like that.

Part of the big website overhaul of 2012 includes a lot of my time doing some rather mindless admin/housekeeping tasks - reformatting posts, moving information around, checking lists, etc, etc. That is my excuse for having managed to watch five seasons of the US version of The Office in an embarrassingly short space of time. I’ve managed to catch up with all that Netflix have on offer, and I enjoyed pretty much all of it. Some of the episodes in the later series dragged a little bit, and there is definitely a change of feeling and tone once [spoiler alert] Jim and Pam get together, but altogether, I’ve liked what I’ve seen.

There have only really been two main topics of conversation over the past few weeks in Ambridge. First up, Amy and Usha. What on earth is going on in that house? The relationship between Amy and Alan seems wholly too smothering for comfort, and Alan’s inability to stand up to his daughter to support his wife is quite shocking. In one of the last episodes of the month, Usha finally gets fed up of the mixture of cold shoulder and hideous sniping, and shouts: “I’m his wife! I live here!” Damn right.

It seems that O is a letter that is destined to cause me trouble. After the thwarted attempt to visit a previous O-shaped destination, I selected another. This did not go completely smoothly either, but I’m going with it, because I am running out of Os (and I want to get to P!). During our recent heatwave in the UK, I took a day off work and opted to head outside. It was somewhat impromptu, because I wanted to make the most of the nice weather and the free time. I’d only discovered Osterley Park a week or so before, and realised it would make a good replacement O. The house and park is a National Trust property, situated just off the M4, right by Heathrow.

That E3 stuff is going on right now, and with it comes a bumper crop of Tomb Raider goodies. Except, I’m not finding them so good. Watch this trailer for the actual gameplay (I watched the trailer, and then muted the rest to ogle the goodness without the commentary). Is it me or is this just too realistic? I don’t get how you can play it. I was watching the scenes thinking: “Yea, I want to see this movie.” But it’s not a movie, it’s a thing that you have to get involved with. It’s so loud and there’s so much movement, and she seems to be feeling a lot more pain than ever before… can that be right?

The Jubilee concert was a real mixed bag, as these things are, but at one point, it did make me stop and think. Many of the acts are from yester year - Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Annie Lennox, Cliff Richard, and Shirley Bassey. These are artists who are all still incredible (give or take a Cliff Richard or two), but can’t possibly claim to be anything but sliding past their best.

The latest phenomenon in reality TV, The Voice UK, came to an end this week, crowning a winner and dishing out a record deal. I stopped watching these talent shows after Hear’Say and Will Young, but for some reason this edition captured the attention of Mr C. The opening rounds - blind auditions and battle duets - certainly were more interesting than other audition shows I’ve seen, but once it went live it was same old, same old. I wasn’t really a fan of how semi-professional everyone was, and the coaches having to sell themselves to the participants made me very uncomfortable.

I didn’t post an update last week because there was very little to report. We’ve been in the midst of a heatwave - probably the only summer that Britain will see this year - and it was just awful. I could hardly keep the motivation to stay upright, let alone go out and exercise. The beginning of this week was similar, although I did think it was cooler on Monday and risked a run. It was not cooler. I felt ill for the rest of the evening.

It took me a little while to get into this, but a few chapters in, I was suddenly really engaged with the characters. It helps that it’s nice and short, which limited the amount of people involved. Some of the classics are so long and sprawling, it’s hard to keep track of who’s who.

Thankfully, I really enjoyed reading this one. I was actually expecting it to be more madcap than it was, it had far more story to it than I had anticipated. I really enjoyed the satire, the imagination, and seeing things as they originally were (42, thanks for all the fish, etc).

I’m sure you’ve all seen this by now, but the teaser trailer for the new James Bond looks gooood. Whilst I appreciate these new James Bond films for what they are, part of me does miss the silly Pierce Brosnan ones. Die Another Day was on TV yesterday and I didn’t get to see it but I wanted to. That was one of the few DVD’s I owned and I used to watch it over and over. Pretty Halle, crazy Madonna, silly Pierce and driving fancy cars around a melting ice palace. What more do you need in life?

After a mammoth Harry Potter marathon, I wanted something completely different to read. Non-fiction, check. Historical, check. Time-travelling? Sold! It started off well, and I thought the idea of approaching history from the perspective of living it, rather than blandly discussing what it might have been like, was a great one.

I really loved this. It had a great story, and was incredibly well acted from all involved. The children were believably innocent and yet mixed up, and everyone had their own little journey to take. The scenery was beautiful, the direction moving and captivating at the same time. My only complaint was the over-use of the music. Some nice Hawaiian music is great, and it helped with the setting and the pacing. However, at times it felt like it was there constantly and I could have just done with a bit of silence instead. Endless Hawaiian music is not so great. Mild niggle, though, not a major complaint.

I don’t watch the Graham Norton show. I don’t mind him in small doses but a whole show would be pushing it. However, I saw this clip with Will Smith and Gary Barlow, and loved it! Everyone knows the words to the theme tune, it’s just one of those cultural things. I particularly love Gary’s input to the rendition though.

I can only really hark back to my review of the 2011 edition, as it is the same - just with a few added characters and a few taken away. I did notice a few things in this one I hadn’t picked up on previously - for example, I didn’t know that Neil and Hayley kept chickens together. And then a few episodes after I read that, they mentioned their eggs in the show itself.

Interestingly, I think this film had exactly the opposite problem of the first. The story was great - I thought it got off to a bit of a slow start, didn’t really need the Irene Adler bit, but once it was going, it was fantastic. The stuff on the train was epic, and the ending was genius. Sadly, it felt like there was less time to explore the relationship between the two, with just fun bits and pieces here and there - the wedding and, again, the train being two that spring to mind.

I’ve dabbled in internet radio for a long time, never a religious listener but always happy to give it a go. I wrote previously about how much I was enjoying Absolute’s variety of online streaming options - select your preferred musical decade and listen away, safe in the knowledge you’ll get none of that “noise” of today. A new station has crossed my path over the last few weeks, and it’s called The Office on 181.fm. Presumably, it’s intended for people to listen to as they get productive and every time we switch it on, I am amazed at the great selection of songs. There are very few that I don’t know or don’t like, they’re all catchy but not overly so and it creates some great background listening. There also seems to be a lack of presenter and just a few adverts scattered here and there. All a bonus when it comes to radio stations.

I was a bit late posting the last update, so it feels like only five minutes ago I was writing about being rubbish at running. But here I am back again to talk some more! This week I managed three runs, so we’re back to the minimum that I should be doing, although I still want to do more. It has been three shorter runs this week, though. As mentioned last time, I’m falling into the clutches of going out for just thirty minutes at a time during the week, as the 10k workout requires longer distances and I don’t have the evening hours to spare.

After my first tea tasting post, I finished the box of apple & ginger and the tea really grew on me. I bought a second box as well, and started to wonder if I hadn’t found the very tea I’ve been looking for at my very first attempt. Nevertheless, I browsed the tea aisle of the supermarket for a while, marvelling at the number of different brands and flavours there are. I have quite a job ahead of me!

This book, the epic ending to seven years of Harry Potter at Hogwarts, is long. It’s so long that halfway through, when our trio were wandering aimlessly around the countryside without a clue what they were supposed to be doing, I couldn’t understand why I was still reading it.

I gave up my Franck blog because there was just no information about him out there. However, every now and again, something so fabulous comes along that I wish I still had the dedicated space to write about him. Good content makes it easy to forget the long periods of silence. But hey, I already have a blog and this will do very nicely indeed. After Peugeot unceremoniously quit their endurance racing programme and dumped all their drivers, the guys have been scrabbling to find other work. Franck was recently announced as a Level 5 Motorsport man, and he raced at Laguna Seca this past weekend for his new team.

Two runs in a week, this is progress! What I am finding now is that as the 10k program I’m working through gets harder, the runs get longer. Which is fine physically, because I am just about keeping up (if getting ridiculously slower as the distances get longer). It’s just timewise. I’ve said it before, but it’s tricky to justify more than an hour of running in an evening, unless I have an unusually free schedule.

I quite liked it, which comes as a surprise to me because in the first few minutes I wondered what I’d let myself in for. There’s plenty of stuff that goes against the grain, and all the characters drop the F-word ever three seconds, and that’s only once you get in the zone and start understanding what they’re saying. But, it was laugh out loud funny in places, had a great cast of characters and a good ending. Plus, it made me want to go to Ireland again.

My poor car is starting to get a bit worn around the edges. It’s been in and out of the garage over the past few months and is costing a few pennies to keep running. I can’t complain as it has been a reasonably well behaved vehicle for the majority of its life and it was bound to start racking up some repair bills at some point. Whilst I’m sure it still has some miles left in it, I’m starting to think ahead to the next model that might take its place. When it first went into the garage, back in March, I immediately started pondering what it would be like to have a new one come back out again.

I’m fascinated by how this book is crafted. It’s almost the calm between two storms, with a brief scuffle of action at the end. We’re into the sixth book now, so we know all there is to know about the lessons at Hogwarts. This time we’re interested in the new lessons with Dumbledore, rather than the school curriculum. It’s filling in all the details and backstory that we need to know before the final installment hits.

Now, I like a short film probably more than the next person but the ending to this was so abrupt, it just left Mr C and I full of questions. The concept for this is brilliant, I was fascinated throughout, loved it. The ending just raised a billion questions and opened up even more plot holes. I felt a bit deflated after enjoying the rest of it so much. I also didn’t think the bad guy was particularly good, he was better before we knew he was evil.

It’s actually more silly than I remembered it being, and even more unbelievable than you would expect. Despite that, it’s got some beautiful shots in it, and some great disaster stuff which is really well made. This is probably one of those films I could watch over and over, like Armageddon. Didn’t cry though.

I’m getting a bit fed up of saying “well, this week I didn’t run much” but it turns out to have been another fortnight of frustration. What with family things, work things, and trying to find the right combination of time, weather and energy, I’m just about getting back on top of it. So, last week there was just one run on Monday, and this week I also went out on the Monday. I was starting to think that would be all I would do and it would be a disappointing week, but then the weekend arrived.

I quite liked it. Much of it was totally unbelievable but if you assume that the government really could get themselves together like that, it was a fun ride. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, it did seem unfair that these people thought they were just training and ended up in that massive fight. Neverthless, it was good and fun and made me just a little bit paranoid. What else can you ask of a film?

I remembered this book as my least favourite, although not specifically. It was a vague recollection of ’the book where Harry is stroppy.’ Turns out that was this one. It’s completely understandable, given the horrors that he has already seen, the difficult summer he must have had, and the continuing frustrations around him. Plenty of people don’t believe him and those that do aren’t telling him anything. And above all that, he’s also now a stubborn teenager so you can’t blame him for that.

This month, I’ve gone day by day again. I like to do it occasionally, because it makes me realise just how much does go on in Ambridge, despite the fact it doesn’t feel like it! 1st - Tom needs Jazzer to do some extra hours because of all the dreaded paperwork. A glimpse at what being an adult is really like! More on Amy’s new boyfriend. They dropped in all the Ambridge Extra story in one minute. Weird.

Thus proving that it wasn’t what I thought at all. I really enjoyed it. I laughed quite a lot, even in places where I wasn’t supposed to, which I think annoyed Mr C but it was out of enjoyment more than anything. The animation of the ED things was rubbish, and I docked Terminator quite a lot for that, but it didn’t feel quite so bad in this one. Additionally, the special effects of RoboCop when his helmet was removed were brilliant! Overall, very good, much enjoyed.

I’ve got a special affection for Jason Mraz, who I first heard of a few months after Mr C and I met. Back then, we found a live concert album available on Archive.org stacked with catchy songs and listened to it over and over and over again. As with lots of artists, subsequent albums haven’t lived up to that first one, although I’ve enjoyed a few singles peppered over the years. We bought the latest album and that has yet to make much of an impact, but it’s early days.

This time last year, I was busy relaxing, writing, and pondering the future. Six months ago, I wrote about my return to work after a sabbatical that involved not finding my dream job but doing something just as worthwhile instead. I’m on a fixed term contract, and thus the future is still relatively uncertain. But for now, I’m glad I can get back to something of normality. Equally, I’m incredibly grateful I had the chance to take some time off. I hope I got the most out of it. I was worried I’d just sleep late and play the Sims all day. Three books later, I’m happy I have something to show for my nine-month sabbatical.

Harry Potter’s fourth outing was, if I recall correctly, my favourite on my first pass at reading them. On this re-read, so far, I think that is true once again. It’s also borne out by the fact the book is fifth on my Big Read list, whereas the others are nestled somewhere around twenty or so. (I’m also intrigued that only the first four are on the list, I guess people think this is the pinnacle and it went rapidly downhill after that.)