I love a couple of the Rizzle Kicks early singles (Skip to the Good Bit is a banger) but haven’t really thought about them too much since they’ve been gone - it was a pleasant surprise to see them back. The album was fine, good enough, certainly a bit more grown up than previous works. There were no real stand out songs on there, but considering what a risk it must be to come back together after so much time and water under the bridge, I think this is a great job.

I had never particularly heard of this movie before but was browsing for 90s night movies, and this came up in a list of those films that are released simultaneously with another of almost the same plot (Dante’s Peak in this case). So figured it was worth a watch and… it was a revelation! It’s proper disaster movie stuff, and there are some slightly implausible moments, but it’s also really good and draws to a moving conclusion where humanity comes together to fight for survival. Good stuff.

I’ve seen this film loads of times but not for many years, so it was weird to watch it again - somehow entirely familiar and yet also surprisingly new in lots of ways. If I saw it new now I wouldn’t care for it, I’m sure, but because it has that nostalgia factor, it was an enjoyable watch. It’s an interesting film and role for Phoebe Cates, as a grown up with an imaginary friend, but she does a great job - even though I can’t believe she’d stay with that hideous husband. And Rik Mayall is there doing what he does best, a bit of chaos and anarchy to brighten the day.

I’m amazed it’s taken so long to watch this film, given how stacked with people it is, and given how it clearly influenced elements of the Fast & Furious franchise. But finally got round to it and am glad of it - leave your IQ at the door, it’s just lots of people pick-pocketing super fast cars. It doesn’t all make sense but it’s a lot of fun. The only problem with it is that there are so many famous names in it that quite a few of them feel criminally under-used. But still, very entertaining.

Poirot investigates several interconnected mysteries that lead to the uncovering of a powerful group called the Big Four. I loved this, particularly the setup - Poirot about to leave, Hastings returning, things going drastically wrong almost instantly. There were a few mysteries to solve and the over-arching bigger plot which ends with the slightly unbelievable twin brother of Poirot. Surely Hastings wouldn’t actually fall for this? But a lot of fun to read and a satisfying ending.

This was an incredible read, so well written. Even though it’s an unfathomable period of time to me, you’re really drawn into this life of a runaway girl pretending to be a boy in order to survive. It’s good and interesting, and the characters are all brilliant, but I have to admit I found the first half better than the second - once she did team up with her errant brother, it felt like things were only ever going to go downhill. Still excellently written and, although a depressing ending, not entirely without hope.

Reacher finds himself seemingly involved in a random bus accident that leaves him stranded in a town, and he gets involved in protecting an elderly witness to a crime. Of course there’s much more to it than that, and I enjoyed the process of trying to figure out who’s doing what and why. Reacher’s occasional phone calls to the mysterious Major Turner are fascinating as well. The ending is a surprise, partly as we don’t know what’s happened to Reacher (although there are many more books in the series!) but also because it wasn’t as successful as he hoped and you just know he’s going to blame himself in future.

I’m loving the new series of Mythic Quest, which is in its second half now, and features all our favourite characters in new and hilarious circumstances. Rachel Meyee tying herself up in knots in front of Congress in last week’s episode? Perfection. And actually, Rachel taking centre stage in that episode reminded me of this article from last year that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It talks of the decision to show Rachel’s grey hair on screen in all its glory, alongside the character of Poppy showing silvery strands in her hair too. It’s excellent, obviously, for a bit of grey haired representation, particularly as Ashly Burch looks amazing.

When it says it’s just mowing, it really is. You’re a little cartoon person sitting on a little cartoon lawnmower, and you swipe around the screen to make it go in the direction you want. When faced with a neighbourhood of overgrown gardens, your challenge is to mow them and move on. Mow and move on. That’s it! So simple and even though it sounds boring, it’s surprisingly satisfying!

I’m not sure if this game would have particularly jumped out at me as a must-play but it was released on the Mac in February and I want to support such endeavours, so gave it a go. I didn’t know anything about it going in and thought it was going to be a bit more hardcore than it initially was - the cover makes it look quite aggressive, but maybe I just didn’t get that far.

This is a really good album, I was surprised how many of the songs I actually knew - the obvious ones such as Filthy/Gorgeous and Take Your Mama, but there are a handful of others that were singles in the early 2000s so I did know them very well. It’s a great album throughout though, eclectic and adventurous but with good groundings in pop to keep you bopping away. Excellent work.

It’s quite surprising to me that Inhaler are on their third album already, it feels like only two minutes since the fantastic debut. The second one was medium good and I think this is more of the same - totally listenable guitar band good stuff but not entirely memorable, and not one that’s going to live with me for a long time. It is nice to hear this kind of music though, there are so few new bands of this kind emerging, good to give them a bit of support!

I watched the TV adaptation of this book first, without knowing anything about it, and quite enjoyed it. But I remember reading a review that was quite annoyed the show was very different to the original - and how right they were! In the book, our protagonist is unashamedly a serial killer, it doesn’t just happen by accident, she goes searching for trouble and quite often finds it. It reads so well, even though this is a killer, you almost relate, can almost understand the point of view. It’s really good and I can’t wait to read the sequel.

More adventures with the cute bumbling bear - this time Paddington tries his hand at driving tests and life drawing, causes chaos at a stately home and a pantomime and even manages to lock Mr Curry in a sauna. I quite enjoyed the first story about the hammock, mostly because it really showed what a terrible neighbour Curry is, and also because hammocks are terrible pieces of furniture, and I could picture every scrape Paddington got into trying to navigate the thing. Fun!

The first two Bridget Jones movies have been a bit meh for me, but it’s something of a cultural icon and so important to keep up with the series, particularly as a new final chapter is coming out soon. This film was a revelation. By all accounts, it shouldn’t have appealed, particularly with a focus on pregnancy and building a family, but ooh it was funny.

I sort of thought this book was not going to be for me, a period of history I don’t know very much about and can be kinda dull in places. It just brings images of swords and mud and women being ill-used, so yea. But of course I forgot how engaging Bernard Cornwell’s writing can be. Even though this is a distant age, with incomprehensible place names and hints of language we don’t really use anymore, it’s completely accessible and an interesting story. Now I’m going to have to read more in this series!

This book in the Pargeter series was a bit different from the ones before, with our intrepid heroine actually leaning in and learning more about what her late husband did - getting a bit too involved, to the point that she apologises to the memory of him afterwards. But it was fun and interesting as a reader to see her open up a bit to this seedy underworld, where previously we have only had hints and tips about what has gone on. It’s still a good deed, a moral victory, being undertaken here, but it involves underhanded methods and that’s always more fun, especially with this great cast of characters!

I was looking for a reliable Jason Statham action flick - we all know he only really does one character and sometimes that’s exactly what you need. This probably would have been that character, but honestly it was so dull, I just couldn’t get through it. The first bit with the swimming pool kill was interesting, and I thought it was going somewhere with Harry’s death but oof, nope.

There are definitely daffodils around, but an early morning walk involved crunching on the frozen grass and spotting this puddle of ice under a bleak winter sun. Still totally worth it.

I don’t know why but somewhere along the line I assumed I didn’t like Chappell Roan’s music. I know the recent song that slows down at the end annoys me, but she’s been around a while so it’s not just that. I put off listening to this album for so long, that it has ended up being a ‘classic’ choice rather than a new one, and my hand was forced. But I loved it! Such a great selection of songs, poppy and trashy and bombastic, and really enjoyable. I can live without the chorus to HOT TO GO, spelling songs aren’t my favourite, but Pink Pony Club is fab and the rest of the album lives up to it and then some.

I’ve enjoyed both previous albums from Sam, although the last one I did think was starting to veer a bit too angry. Thankfully that vibe is pretty much gone from this third outing, and it’s some really good songs. I don’t know that they’re going to be all that memorable outside of listening to the album, but it’s a pleasurable experience to listen - with the exception of the last song, maybe. Album went one song too long, but otherwise, great work.

I’ve watched the TV adaptation of this, and after absolutely loving the Hawthorne series by Horowitz, I figured it was worth a go. It’s good! It’s a bit different to the TV show in that it’s in distinct parts - pretty much all the book within a book first, and then the investigation afterwards, rather than dipping back and forth throughout. I liked that, it made it easier to understand and follow, and even though I knew the answer to the mystery, it was still excellent to follow the process.

After the slight disappointment of the last Reacher read, I moved on to the next one and enjoyed it much better. Although, it has to be said that at this point in the series, we have reached peack boilerplate Reacher adventure. There’s a formula and we’re sticking to it. Reacher inadvertently gets involved in a plot, he starts investigating and keeps going even though both good and bad sides don’t want him to, he meets a woman usually in law enforcement and they sleep together with no commitments necessary, and then in the end Reacher singlehandedly takes down the bad guys and saves the day. We know what we’re getting and this one, despite the quite unbelievable action sequences around the subways, was a good entry in the series.

I think knowing a bit of the background to this book is helpful as it turns out le Carre was annoyed that his previous book, which was intended to be a satire poking fun at the spy industry, was actually really well received and the main character considered something of a hero. So he had to double down in this one and really made the spies look incompetent and out of touch. It was interesting to see how they went about their business whilst clinging on to their previous victories and not wanting to move with the times. George Smiley was there but was hardly a main character, just dipping in and out to move things along occasionally. A fascinating read knowing the background, I’m not sure how I would have felt about it not knowing that in advance.

Good little thriller this one, starting off with a woman trying to escape an unhappy household and very quickly escalating into a mystery of who did what and when, and what on earth happened. It used flashbacks well, filling in the gaps of the story neatly, and when the threads came together at the end I was surprised, I hadn’t seen it coming! And the final piece at the end was a sting in the tail that I also wasn’t expected but actually seemed quite fitting. A good read, well written and I powered through it very quickly.

I don’t usually review books I’ve not finished, because most of the time it’s just that the book is good but not for me, and that’s not the author’s fault. I wanted to log this one though, just because I enjoyed the first book so much and made mention of wanting to read the rest of the series. I tried, but this book felt so different. There was barely any reference to the time travel aspects, other than a couple of mentions of ‘what would they call this medical thing back then’. And most of the time was spent with Claire and Jamie catching up on their days whilst lying in bed. It ended up being a bit dull. So just to log that I won’t be reading the rest of the series after all, but the good news is it’s super successful anyway and won’t miss me!

Another adventure for the reluctant hero Jack Reacher, and if I’m honest, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as some of the previous ones. I liked the premise at the start, these two towns called Hope and Despair and one of them is much friendlier than the other. Reacher getting kicked out of a cafe isn’t a new phenomenon, but then this went on to him investigating just out of nosiness rather than any particular thing happening, and it didn’t quite work for me. Bits of it were good, but ultimately glad to move on from this one.

A recent interview with Tim Rice has brought up the idea of captioning musicals for audiences to gain a better understanding, using surtitles (not a word I had come across before) as newer generations are so used to subtitling their content anyway. It’s very frustrating at times, especially if you’re the words man… Time and time again, the lyrics couldn’t be heard when it was choral. If you’ve got great singers like Tommy Körberg or Elaine Paige singing the songs solo, you do hear the words, but the choral stuff can often be quite important and you just don’t hear it.

Okay, I’ve sat with this for two weeks and I can’t take it any more. I, like many people, trawl through the Superbowl adverts looking at who has sold out this year, and I was astounded to see Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal resurrecting their When Harry Met Sally characters to sell mayonnaise. It’s awful. I wouldn’t have minded if it had just been that once, but I’ve seen it whilst watching other programmes, when they cut to adverts it pops up. Eugh.

It’s no secret that I’m a big Tomb Raider fan - lots of memories and nostalgia associated with this, but actually, when I drill down into it, I don’t know that much about the early games. I went big on Tomb Raider 2, and then nothing until The Angel of Darkness. So, obviously I snapped up the previous Remastered bundle of I, II and III, but haven’t actually had time to get stuck in with them. And now, the second Remastered bundle of Last Revelation, Chronicles and Angel of Darkness has been released. I managed to play a few minutes of Angel before being strong-armed into Last Revelation, and oh boy, I’m glad that happened!

I love the Carpenters and have been trying to squeeze in one of their albums for a long time, finally their day has come! I went back to the debut, and it was an interesting listen because it’s not quite the sound that became so popular. There are a lot of jazzy elements to it, harking back to their previous life as a jazz band, and Richard gets an almost half share of the vocals whereas it later became very much Karen the singer, Richard the musician. But it’s still a good listen, and her voice, ooh it melts me.

I was so looking forward to this Manics album, just like I was last time, and… just like last time, it wasn’t quite as good as I hoped. I had very mixed feelings about the first track - good to hear something a little bit different from the boys but can’t say I agree with everything they’re whining about in there. The rest of the album falls back to the sound you know, and it’s perfectly good and fine to listen to but just doesn’t hit those heady heights of Resistence is Futile… and strikes a quite angry-at-the-world note that I just wasn’t feeling.

Super quick read this one, a nice neat little story about two people meeting by happenstance and falling in love hard and fast in extreme circumstances. At first, I was a bit dubious because there’s no way a call centre employee could spend this much time on the phone with one customer, but there’s a twist that explains all that away. And I quite like that this relationship entirely grows and evolves on the phone. I don’t make phone calls wherever possible so it’s a strange world, but it makes for some interesting conversations.

I love Cathy’s writing and so even though I don’t have any particular desire to write a memoir at the moment (definitely one of the people described within who thinks they have no specific story to tell), I wanted to read this book. And I’m glad I did because I think firstly, it’s just a nice uplifting book to read about powering through and getting on with your craft. And secondly, I think it can apply to all kinds of writing, and by extension, all kinds of endeavours really. A nice book, lots of advice and pointers to get you started, not hugely structural but more of a cheerleader to keep you on the right path.

I love Jenny Eclair’s writing and this book has some great scenes, wonderful turns of phrase, and great characterisation… particularly because most of the people in the book aren’t particularly sympathetic and often awful to each other. But you still are hooked on finding out what happened and what’s going to happen next. From that point of view, I loved it, but I have to admit, after the event where our two timelines converge and then towards the abrupt ending, I just felt like there wasn’t a clear ending. I’m not saying everything has to be wrapped up in a neat bow, it couldn’t be for these characters, but it just felt left, dangling, and unsatisfying. Still worth reading, for sure, but I wish it could have had just a bit more of a conclusion.

Oh wow, I loved this book. I absolutely devoured it, almost in one sitting but definitely in as quick a time as possible. If I had a spare moment, I was reading this. It’s just a wonderful depiction of a handful of London characters trying to make their way in the world, using dating apps, arguing with noisy neighbours, attending horrifying hen nights, and dealing with ailing parents. It’s gorgeous and so well written, you’re just captivated and swept up in it all. I didn’t want it to end!

I enjoyed this Doctor Who tale which featured the Tenth Doctor and Donna on an adventure in partition-era India. There’s mystery afoot, obviously, but the real joy of this story is the appearance of a certain character called Ghandi. Although in a couple of places it felt like the author was just spouting Wikipedia at us for a history lesson, the way Doctor-Donna listens and learns from Ghandi as he embraces and deals with life around him was amazing, and pretty inspirational. Lovely stuff.

I love Stephen King’s writing and this is a mammoth book that is pretty iconic - the clown, the balloons. I’ve not seen the recent film(s) but might take a look now that I’ve read the books. It’s scary stuff, the story of a horrifying clown menacing a Maine town and killing off children, and a group of kids who come back as adults to relive the horror and finally see an end to it. I did think the story dragged a little in places, it felt like we trod over the same ground quite a lot. But you can’t fault King’s ability to write a bad guy. Henry, and Tom, and Beverley’s father, all of them, you can just feel the menace crawling right out of the page. So good, and creepy.

This film was free on the BBC iPlayer and it kept catching my eye because it’s clearly a ridiculous and long title. I did a tiny bit of research and found out that The Money Pit is a loose adaptation of this film which made it a must-watch. It’s not really all that good, I don’t know how funny it actually was, but the three leads have great chemistry and Cary Grant and Myrna Loy bantering with each other 1940s style is quite a lot of fun. I think I prefer the Money Pit, but this is not a bad start.

This probably isn’t a book I would pick out for myself but it was recommended to me by my dad and I’m glad of it. It’s a very simple, relatively short book that tells of the adventures of a school inspector in the Yorkshire Dales in days gone by. It’s actually part of a series and I haven’t read any of the others but I might seek them out because it’s funny and has great characterisations and amusing anecdotes. Just a nice, gentle, slice of life.

The Backstreet Boys popped up on Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary concert and boy were they well received! Who would have thought that Paul Rudd and Jon Hamm would be bopping along to these boys as if their lives depended on it! Plus Maya Rudolph always in flirt mode, it’s wonderful. What I love most about this is actually the YouTube comments, not traditionally a place known for positivity, are all so supportive of Brian, it makes me quite emotional. Such love.

Mansun are the latest band to have popped up on the 90s Top of the Pops replays, and a band I hadn’t actually heard of before. Mr C was quite keen on me listening to this album though, and I enjoyed it! I didn’t think it started out that well, but gradually improved and some of the singles are real bangers. Overall it’s a mixed bag, but for a group I’d not heard of, I really enjoyed it!

I was looking forward to this album, Olly Alexander tends to deliver good pop tunes and after the fiasco that was Eurovision, it would be nice to talk about something else with regards to his music! And actually, I thought Dizzy, the song that didn’t go down so well with the rest of Europe, was a stand out on the album. It worked much better in this context, and was one of the better songs. They’re a mixed bag but generally veering towards good, and more of that pop style that we know and love.

Another memoir from the former doctor turned comedian/writer, and this time a lot of it is about the transition out of the hospital work to whatever was coming next, and how difficult it is to come back to ‘civilian’ life. And how difficult it is to be a patient when you’re a doctor! It’s written with the humour and sensible observations you would expect, but there are some harrowing events depicted within which I wasn’t necessarily expecting, so it’s a good idea to know that before you go in so you can brace yourself. But, a brave, moving and funny book that is worth it.

It’s been a little while since I read one of these, having been focused on other series, but it was nice to return to the characters and their little corner of the country. A decades long mystery is being unravelled, which was an interesting one to follow as the clues started unravelling - I didn’t guess the two big twists at the end! And meanwhile, our detectives are happily loved up but unless I am very much mistaken, we’ve got the very beginnings of some potential drama coming soon. Which means I’m just going to have to read the next one!

One of my new year resolutions is to spend a bit less on streaming services, which means I’m having to be a bit more judicious about when I watch certain things… and that I’m inevitably watching more on the free services like BBC and Channel 4. It does mean an increase in ad viewing as well, which is a downside, but at the moment, it’s worth the trade off. Here’s a roundup of recent viewing, which has covered quite a wide variety of shows!

Right, up front we have to acknowledge the awful portrayal of Native Americans and the casual racism on display here. It’s of its time, sure, but still not really acceptable and there are definitely moments of uncomfortable viewing. But I honestly love every other thing about this movie. Doris Day is brilliant, the love quadrangle a lot of fun, the songs are absolutely banging, and it’s just a joy. There are some surprisingly insightful thoughts on gender hidden behind the misogyny, and plenty of city versus rural rivalry, and all of it topped with some fabulous tunes. Love it.

This book was adapted for the second series of the recent Reacher TV show, so it was vaguely familiar to me as I read through. We have the return of Neagley, which is great, but also a few other characters who have worked with Reacher before and have a variety of loyalties and opinions on him. And the big mystery this time initially looks like it might be about their past but, as always, ends up being much more than anyone could have expected. Another good Reacher story!

I can totally understand why people would have gotten obsessed with these books as they first came out. The characters are so well drawn, where normally you would have a stiff-upper-lipped Regency attitude, these are living breathing humans with wants and fears and everything in between. And the alphabetical siblings are a lot of fun, and when you thrown in various romances on the top, there’s a lot to like!

I keep seeing walking pads everywhere - the smaller, more agile version of a treadmill that is designed for walking rather than running, and getting your steps in rather than completing a marathon. Naturally with the start of a new year and resolutions being made and broken, it makes sense for a lot of conversation to centre on health and fitness but I really am seeing these small machines everywhere, they are having a moment!