After last week’s experiment/disaster, I was back on my home turf this weekend. I didn’t manage to run at all during the week like I had hoped. It was a week full of sleepless nights and so early mornings were something of a no-no. I find myself sitting at work and dreaming of how good it will feel to have done a workout for the day. The reality is something far different.

The Red Arrows have had a terrible year. I had never heard of a Red Arrows pilot dying before, and now we have seen two fatalities in the space of four months. Although there may be slight consolation in the fact they “died doing what they loved”, there’s no escaping the fact that it’s a tragedy. It’s made worse by the fact that the Red Arrows is a display of incredible skill, determination and bravery, and manages to show off in one of the few ways Britain can. When it comes to other adventures - sports, singing competitions, more sports - we try hard and mostly fail. The Red Arrows though, they’re a symbol of us being good at something.

I go through earphones at a rate of knots. Sometimes they lose the sound in one ear, occasionally I leave them places, often one end of the cable breaks and becomes unusable. Considering the amount I use them, I’m okay with that really. They have become more of a consumable than anything else. I’ve tried expensive ones, I’ve tried cheap ones, and in the end, I just go with whatever I can find. My most recent headphones came to an early demise with a lack of sound in one ear, so I made an emergency evening trip to the supermarket to grab a new pair. Mr C raised the idea of buying one good pair for office duties, and then another pair for running and sleeping with.

365 F1 Stories chronicles a tale from Formula One’s vast history for every single day of the year, with a variety of different topics on offer. From driver birthdays, to important races, to those little moments you might have missed, there’s plenty on offer in the books. If you’re not completely convinced, or have bought the books but haven’t read through them all, there’s a quick way of getting a teaser for what’s happening on the day in question. The 365 F1 Stories Twitter account has a daily teaser update for you, posing a question related to the relevant story in the book itself. For example, a couple of days ago, this was the update:

It’s been a while since Baby Panda Thursday ceased to be updated on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped looking at all things cute and panda shaped. Lots of people tweet me panda related items and I love it! I also particularly love apps and games that involve pandas. If your app has a cute panda as the icon, then you’re very likely to make a sale.

Really quite liked it. It being directed by Favreau was a surprise but I think he did a fabulous job. It was a bit long, but thankfully it wasn’t too drawn out - as quite a lot of these ‘how they became who they are’ stories can be (see: Batman, Bond). I loved the character, I know he was meant to be not very likeable to begin with, and his choice of career is questionable, but I wasn’t lying when I said I could watch a whole film of the rich guy just doing what he does.

I remember starting this book a couple of times when I was younger, and could never really get past the calories counts and stuff. That kind of thing was never really interesting to me. I also vaguely recall watching the start of the second film and being completely appalled and disgusted at her behaviour about getting married, when she’d only been with the chap for a few weeks.

I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed the book, but there were bits of it I liked. Just like the concept of Catch 22 itself, Joseph Heller’s writing was repetitive and full of riddles. Sometimes I wasn’t sure I knew what was going on, and I’d have to read a conversation several times to make sure I could follow it. Other times it was easy to keep up.

Back in August, I wrote about my new enthusiasm for being a football fan, after my first visit to a match earlier in the year. At the end of summer, I was all excited about following along at home - checking in with the app, catching up with Match of the Day, and trying to keep up with the scores. I figured now was as good a time as any to update how it’s going being an Aston Villa fan.

After my successes in the last two weeks, I thought I’d treat myself with a visit to the countryside. Rather than pounding the pavements and wondering whether people are looking out their windows and laughing at me, I decided to head towards the trees. This meant getting in my car, and for a while I worried that having to drive to a destination would lessen my enthusiasm - there’s something unavoidable about donning trainers, stepping out the door and being on the “track” already.

Aww, it was good. It amazes me that this film is 16 years old because it still looks amazing. In the trivia, there were some notes about things they couldn’t animate | hair and water being two prime ones. We know they sorted hair because they did Monsters Inc, and we know they sorted water because they did Finding Nemo.

Mr C and I differ so much on this film. He loved it and I pretty much hated it. There were some good moments in it. Some. I really quite liked the friend | although was disappointed in how mean Cameron D’s character was to her. I also adored the gym teacher, but didn’t think he should be attracted to a witch like her.

Over the past few years, I’ve had my own personal campaigns against some of the major national holiday celebrations. I’ve vented my distaste over Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and of course, Christmas. Ultimately, my aim has always been to get people to accept the fact that I don’t like these things even though they do. It’s a personal choice, and they’re free to get on with their celebrations, leaving me not to.

It’s funny, I’m sure I’ve read this before. I’ve read most of Roald Dahl’s output, although not all. For Matilda, I knew the concept - extremely bright child, terrible parents, some kind of magical powers. I also knew that it all ended happily ever after, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what happened in between.

The first chapter was a little worrying, it was quite drawn out and slow going. A terrorist attack on a plane is a hard-hitting way to begin a book, but somehow it was neutered by the time it took to get there - especially as we knew it was going to happen from the blurb. That aside, though, the rest was well-written - the odd proofing error here and there, but nothing that detracted from the story too much. There was good detail, not enough to be too graphic but plenty to immerse yourself in the story. The pacing was good, and that’s crucial for a thriller.

The big news this month in Ambridge is that Clive Horrobin is back. He’s getting much more attention in Ambridge Extra which returned in October (more on that later), but his appearance is reverberating around the whole village, in the main show as well. I am aware of Clive’s work, but haven’t actually heard him in the show before, and he seems like a nasty chap even when he’s supposedly turning over a new leaf. Handily, however, there was gossip spreading around the village, and the new barman Rhys had all of Clive’s misdemeanours explained to him, so that those not in the know could be brought up to speed. Sneaky. Clearly we are not to trust him, and his hooking up with Matt immediately makes me very concerned. Who knows what scheme he has planned this time?

Oh, it was so very, very disappointing! The premise, the underlying concept, all good, and I really quite enjoyed the first hour | up until the point they went into the library. They were building it up as a sort of thriller, scary music, and tension rising for what could only be a jump or two, but then it was all gone in the crashing down of half a ton of water.

A while back, I discussed the new Sims Social game - a Facebook only game that was clearly developed to generate cash whilst fostering relationships at the same time. I wasn’t sure about it at all back then, but was willing to give it a few more days. I have played it quite a lot since then, for a week or so I was checking in every day. It is fun seeing what you can do and interacting with other people, but I think the charm has worn off now. I’m not sure I’ve played it at all this week, and I think I’m probably over it.

I really, really enjoyed it. I said at the top I thought it was going to be silly, and it was, but it wasn’t too crazy which can sometimes put me off. I was laughing almost from the very beginning | the opening credits where he gets lost. I liked that a lot of the jokes were unexpected, even if they had some pretty obvious build up. Rowan Atkinson was excellent, and it was fun seeing Natalie Imbruglia. I don’t think it’s worthy of a 5, but I liked it very much.

Two weeks into my new and sparse running routine, and somehow I am managing to run better than ever. I cannot explain this. Last week, I was desperate to go out, I was feeling all cooped up and ready to run. I wasn’t 100% sure how far I was going to go when I first headed out, because it was the first run I’d done for a while, but eventually I knew I wasn’t doing a short, fast pace, I was going for distance. So, a 5K it was.

In my school days, one of my very best friends introduced me to two important things. First, Doritos and dip. Mmm. That’s a staple of our Film Watch evenings these days, so if it wasn’t for that early introduction, I don’t know what we’d be munching on. The second thing was Tomb Raider. We used to wrap blankets around us, sit on the living room floor, and pass a laptop between each other, working our way through Tomb Raider 2. I may have seen the game thanks to my brothers, but it was the first chance I got to really sit down and play it all the way through. It was brilliant.

When Amazon announced their new line of products - ereaders and tablets all - we decided it was about time we became a Kindle-owning household. I’ve never really been fussed about the Kindle really, settling for the gazillion apps I have spread around the office. There’s never a time I’m very far from a book these days. Still, the new range of products made them more enticing, and as a Kindle book writer, we sort of needed one for testing. That’s the excuse I’m going for, anyway.

It’s a great tale, though, following Flora as she heads down to some distant relatives and completely turns their lives around. I’m still not 100% sure how she does it, because the only real influence she has on anyone is buying the dress and making Elfine look glamorous. She has a chat with Aunt Ada but we never get to find out what she said, and we never get to find out what happened in the woodshed.

I’ve been using the RunKeeper app for a while now, and aside from the odd GPS related issue (mostly to do with my phone), it’s been a dream. Not content with providing me with statistics, maps, graphs and plenty of motivation, RunKeeper went one step further and gave me a platform to share my story.

Somewhere, in the dusty corners of my mind, I recall watching the film of this book and not being particularly bothered about it. The book, I’m glad to say, is much better. Written as a memoir, and told from the perspective of an older woman looking back on how her life unfolded, there’s a friendly and casual air to the story - but with a hint of something still being held back.

The conversation that kicked off after my post earlier today made me even more sure that I’ve not been trying hard enough with Android. I can’t really stress how much I want to stay on the Android platform, but equally I know for a fact I’d get more use out of the iPhone. Either way, I’m not going to be splashing out on either for a month or two yet, and that seems like a good period of time to knuckle down and try and get the best out of my Android phone. If I can prove that I can do whatever I want to do with the Desire I already have, then there’s no reason I need to change.

For the last eighteen months, I’ve been using the HTC Desire as my mobile method of contacting the outside world, but my contract is due to expire soon and that leaves me with something of a dilemma. These mobile phone contracts are so long that choosing the next device is quite an important decision. At the moment, it leaves me scratching my head. Just a hunch The iPhone has never really done it for me and I’ve never been able to explain why. I’m a happy iPod and iPad user, never really taking it for granted how much they brighten up my day, but the iPhone doesn’t grab my attention the way I might have imagined. Recent updates to the camera, and the great stuff that iOS 5 brings to the table make it a much more interesting prospect, but I’m still not 100% convinced.

Mmm, I love sandwiches. They’re one of my favourite foods, although it probably doesn’t count as just one given the number of fillings you can have. That, in fact, is what this post is all about - my five favourite sandwich fillings at the moment. My tastes seem to change all the time at the moment. I used to love prawn sandwiches but have gone off them quite a lot recently. Weirder combinations have taken the prawn’s place. These are my favourite at this moment, though.

With this episode, the Tenth Doctor gets his reign underway proper, after spending most of the last episode in his pyjamas. No more of that - he’s got a suit, he’s got a TARDIS, and he’s got places to be. New New Earth for a New New Doctor. The first few scenes really cement the relationship between Rose and the Doctor. He’s brand new, but she’s willing to stick with him. In fact, she’s already showing signs of liking this Doctor more than the previous one. They’re like a new couple on a date, picnicking on the applegrass. Mmm, applegrass.

This evening, I came home from work and went for a run. It was a bit chilly out there, and getting dark, and it’s very clear that there won’t be many running hours left after work for much longer. Even with the impending time change. Mmm, GMT. This was my first run for twelve days, which seems like forever. Did I say I wanted to run more times than ever before in October? Ha ha ha.

Well. Where to begin? Overall, it wasn’t the worst film ever. I wasn’t expecting great things, but it got better as it went on. The real problem came from the fact that in the first five minutes all of my Bono and Edge illusions were shattered when I learned their real names, and you can’t really get over something like that in time to watch and enjoy the rest of the film.

Google have confirmed that they’re axing a few more of their side projects, including the terrible Buzz and the less terrible Jaiku. I was a big fan of Jaiku in its days pre-Google, using it as an alternative to Twitter. As Mr C commandeered the @sidepodcast Twitter account, I was looking for another way to represent Sidepodcast in social networks. I headed straight towards Jaiku, and was impressed with what I saw. I liked the little images you could use to demonstrate what kind of update you were writing, and I really liked that it had direct commenting on each status. It was slightly easier to follow a conversation than on Twitter.

My first week at my new job has been and gone, and it was mostly alright. I mean there was this, of course: …and that did go on for a couple of days, but I am not really complaining. It’s all good.

I’ve read some of Meg Cabot’s adult works, but would never have really thought of picking this one up. It’s a Young Adult work, but that doesn’t usually put me off. I guess the word Princess was really the problem. However, as part of my reading list, I was happy to give it a chance. You know, I’m quite glad I did. For a book about unexpectedly finding out you’re a princess when you’re still at school and dealing with teenage issues, it was actually very realistic and easily readable. The last book I read that attempted a teenage diary style was by Dawn French, and that one really grated after a while.

Before Strictly Come Dancing began proper, I chose my picks for good times ahead. That was before we had seen anyone dance, of course, although I had been to the Beeb’s website and seen some of their “web exclusive” training diaries. Well, we’re two shows in now. We’ve seen the contestants dance not once, but twice, and we’ve finally voted someone off. It may just be me, but it seems like forever since Strictly first returned, particularly as we had the whole partnering up extravaganza as well.

Amazon have launched a French Kindle store to go alongside their US, UK and German destinations. The new store allows Kindle users in France to purchase books from a dedicated .fr domain, rather than being redirected to their nearest store and purchasing in differing currencies. Along with the store, Amazon also launched a French-language Kindle, so that users can buy and read books in either language. You can find my three books on the French Kindle store here.

I’m really loving some of the features Wordpress are bringing out. I can’t remember if I already mentioned the Copy a Post feature before - but even if I have it bears repeating. I don’t quite know how I ever managed to live without it. For anyone who is not in the know, you simply find a post you want to replicate, click a button, and it brings up that post as a whole new one, so you can tweak to your hearts content. For things like Film Watch, and the Casual Reader posts, where the formatting is all the same, it’s genius.

Way back in February, I left the comfort of a good job with a vague idea of changing careers. It felt like the right time to do it and I knew I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to leave one job with time to look for another one - the right one - to come along. I went for a couple of interviews here and there, but was not particularly enamoured with what I found. I was worried that my dream job didn’t exist. I still think it probably doesn’t.

I’ve always had a bit of a grudge against this book, not really through any fault of its own. When I was younger, I read a version that was cut short. Having finished it now, I can see that it was the first part of the book, the midway point before they all up and get married. Cue the inevitable conversation about Beth, where I am adamant that she got sick but got better, and I am being told otherwise. Confusion, sadness, etc, all reigned supreme.

Yesterday, we watched Finding Nemo, partly as a way to make Mr C feel a bit better after his short but nasty bug, and partly as it seemed fitting after the sad death of Steve Jobs this week. When the news broke that he’d passed away, I wasn’t surprised to find my Twitter stream and RSS reader filled with posts about the man, but there were occasional crossover posts that surprised me. Seeing Formula One people tweet their thoughts on Jobs was a strange crossing of the streams.

This is great, it’s one of the films that came from Pixar at their best. The fun and adventurous stuff is as good as it possibly could be | laugh out loud and very engaging. Bruce was one of the best things I’ve seen for ages, and I loved Ellen as Dorey.

Actually it was better than I was expecting. It was pretty corny and occasionally clichéd, but Kim was deliciously sarcastic and the dialogue was great. Bill Bailey had only a tiny part but made quite an impact too. It was very British, what with all the T4 and Tesco involved, but that was okay. Overall, I can’t pick too many holes in it, because it was good for what it was, but equally, I don’t have that much to say about it either.

With Leo being something of a podcasting hero of ours, we always like to see what’s going on behind the scenes in TWiT land. Given how much of the day is spent live streaming, it’s not hard to see behind each of the shows, but Leo and team have taken it one step further. On the Inside TWiT blog, they’ve posted an hour long chat with Leo and CEO Lisa talking about the state of TWiT itself.

Or, Why I Want My Leopard Back When Apple released the latest edition of their operating software, Mr C declared we needed a beta tester. Seeing as he was working on some quite finicky pieces of software, and I was more into browsers and word processors, the honour fell to me. I wrote a post about my initial thoughts moving from Snow Leopard to Lion, and now I’m updating that with reasons I wish I hadn’t.

It’s been a bit of a downer month in Ambridge really, starting with Phoebe finally making her way out of Borsetshire and heading towards her extended family in South Africa. I thought the departure was really well done. Lots of nitpicking over clothes and packing, trying to brave, and in the end, it was Roy who started with the tears first. Bless. After two kids fleeing the nest, Jennifer finds herself lonely and bored. She manages to find time to give Clarrie something of a pep talk, and denies Tony a hand out after he comes grovelling. She must be able to find something more useful to do, in the whole of Ambridge, and with all their connections and money.

For those who prefer their eBooks on the iPod/iPhone/iPad, Formula Primo Confidential has now made its debut on the iBookstore. The first in the series, Between the Lines, is now available in six countries, with more than twenty coming shortly. The iBookstore version offers full colour graphics, table of contents, and advanced formatting. Visit Between the Lines on the iBookstore and get your free sample now!

There were bits that were similar to other films | Hugh Grant obviously plays the same character in every film, and the Love Actually similarities were uncanny. There were surprising moments too, though, with Rachel’s crazy child, and some of the narration. I can’t really fault anything in the film, but I’m not quite prepared to give it a 5 out of 5.

I had forgotten Keira and Orlando’s potential wooden acting in this, although I must say it got better as the film went on and they seemed to gain something of a rapport. Of course, it doesn’t matter much because the real hero is Captain Jack Sparrow. There are plenty of moments in the film that are preposterous | particularly the sword fight next to the donkey, but it doesn’t matter because it’s all feel good fun, and that’s what matters in a movie like this.

“I hope you don’t think I’m rude…” she said, pushing into the queue in front of me, “but I’ve got three kids in the car.” I would have made a fuss - there is nothing like riling up some queue etiquette anger - but I was hot and tired, and I really wasn’t in that much of a rush anyway. Even so, the brief sentence made me think a lot, and I came to three conclusions.

As mentioned last week, I was somewhat worried about this series finale. The fifth series ended spectacularly, and I loved practically all of the final two episodes. I have faith in Steven Moffat but after seeing the start of this series, my belief system was shaken a little bit. It really shouldn’t have been. The Doctor has been wending his way towards his death, and we were treated to him repeating over and over that it was a fixed point in time. I very much enjoyed the state of affairs in the broken time stream, where everything was happening past and present, history meeting the future. The trains were excellent, and although the CGI was startlingly obvious, it was fun.