The most recent episode of Robert Llewellyn’s Fully Charged YouTube series focused on the fun and future-proof idea of solar-powered trains. Electricity-powered trains are front and centre at the moment, with the ongoing works to upgrade the length of the Great Western Railway line, but this episode talks of a short track that goes just a little bit further. Based in Australia, where there is a little bit more sunshine than we have in the UK, the Byron Bay Railroad Company refurbished an old train, refitting it with batteries and solar panels and allowing the machine not only to power itself with renewable energy but also to give power back to the grid.

I always start these anniversary posts with the warning that “I don’t usually like to celebrate such things but here I am going to anyway.” I have realised, though, that it’s something to do with the ten year anniversary of things. That’s the one I like because it’s a nice round number and because it seems like a long time. Ten years is the one that Film Watch is celebrating.

The little gem of a show that is Travel Man returned last week, and it debuted a new four-episode run with the wonderful guest star Dawn French. In case the show has passed you by, it features Richard Ayoade taking a celebrity guest on a whirlwind 48 hour trip to various holiday destinations. Previous episodes have featured Aisling Bea in Budapest, Jon Hamm in Hong Kong, and Paul Rudd in Helsinki.

Beats 1, Apple’s live streaming radio service, has a lot of great content. It can be hard to keep on top of it, and I’ll admit it does lean towards the cooler end of the music spectrum than I would place my own listening habits. However, what they do well is getting a variety of guest presenters in to host a show and therefore airing lots of different tastes and views.

I was worried about this one, because what I know of Bob Dylan is the gravelly voice and a slight tendency to overuse the harmonica. These are two things that meant I wasn’t sure I’d get to the end of the album but actually, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I don’t think it’s really my kind of music and I wouldn’t seek it out, but it has its own merits and I can understand why people are big fans.

I’ve a fondness for The Maine after using some of their music in our live podcasting days of many years ago. Turns out they also make real albums too, and this was a very good one! A nice body of pop work that makes for some easy listening. I don’t know if it particularly stood out from the crowd but I’d certainly tune in again.

Just a celebratory post to have reached 100% completion on the main Spider-Man game. I think this is the only game that isn’t Tomb Raider that I’ve played to completion. And yet somehow there is still more to do with three DLC expansions to get 100% on. It’s not like Marvel to have more content than it’s possible to keep up with!

Rami Malek is incredible in this, embracing the spirit and the passion and the teeth of Freddie Mercury with style, grace, and a touching humanity. The actor playing Brian May was also really good, I thought. The scenes were well made with incredible attention to detail, particularly in the remakes of Top of the Pops and of course, Live Aid. It told whatever story it was trying to tell well, and swept you along to the end, by which time I was in floods of tears.

Interesting one, this. It’s a good film, interesting plot and all squeezed in to a relatively short running time. I do feel a bit uncomfortable that it has the “white saviour” issue, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, in that respect. For the most part, the kids just needed a bit of a push and they did the rest themselves. That headmaster though, rage!

If you pay any attention to TV and culture on the internet, you’ll likely have heard people raving about Fleabag. I’m sorry to say that I’m just going to add to the adoration here, because it really was that good. I have to admit, though, that I only caught on to the Fleabag bug recently, and revelled in the joy of binge-watching it. I actually have to go one step further and admit that I probably wouldn’t have watched it at all if it wasn’t for Andrew Scott being in the second series.