I’d never even heard of Taskmaster until this latest series, and it only crossed my path because I follow James Acaster on Twitter, and he was a participant in the latest series. I like Acaster’s work, and some of the clips and gifs I’ve seen have made me wonder what all the fuss is about.

I had to do a bit of digging to find where I could watch this show – it’s broadcast on Dave, which means it’s part of the UK TV family. There’s an on demand app called UK TV Play (I do not recommend this app, it’s very poor compared to other video streaming efforts). So, I downloaded and started watching.

Obsessed.

Genuinely, I thought, I’ll just check out the first episode of the first series and see what it’s all about. I binge watched that first series in a weekend, and started working on the second.

It’s crazy but brilliant.

In case you don’t know, five guests are put at the whim of Taskmaster Greg Davies and series creator/able assistant Alex Horne. Each episode features a handful of tasks, for which points are handed out, and one of the comedians will win the episode, and then the points are added together to get a series winner too.

Yea, Mr C didn’t seem all that thrilled when I used that explanation to try and convince him it was good, either.

Perhaps, with the admin out the way, it’s time to talk about the tasks. They are both weird, wonderful, genius and silly all at the same time. Getting three yoga balls to sit on a yoga mat at the top of a steep hill on a windy day. Finding the quickest way of emptying a bathtub without pulling the plug out. Painting a picture of a horse whilst sitting on a horse.

Some are more cerebral, some are basic, and the highlights are seeing how each contestant approaches the tasks differently. The good thing about it, too, is because it’s the same set of people over the course of a six-episode series, you get to know who will try and twist the rules for an easier life, who’ll think outside the box, and who will just jump right in with both feet and see what happens. I read somewhere that the producers approach it a bit like a continuing drama in that sense, and I think that adds to the fun.

So, there are seven series with Acaster in the latest batch that has just finished. I’ve got a bit of catching up to do but at the rate I’m going, I’ll be up to speed in no time. And then they’ve just realised a Taskmaster book, with tricks and tips and tasks to put on your own Taskmaster event. Wondering which of my family and friends I can convince to give it a go.

I was aware of the hype surrounding Netflix’s recent horror offering, The Haunting of Hill House, but I wasn’t sure I was prepared for it. I quite like a good horror but haven’t watched anything in that genre for such a long time, I’ll be honest, I was a bit nervous about my nerves.

However, a friend recommended it and thus I was convinced to at least give it a go.

As you can probably guess from the fact I’ve written a post about it, I loved it! The first episode got off to a really slow start, and I wasn’t sure I was going to watch anymore until the very last few minutes, where there’s a sudden twist that turns everything on its head.

I don’t want to spoil anything here, so won’t go into details, but from that first episode, it was just superbly told and enticing all the way. Flipping back and forth through time, telling the story in a slow, methodical fashion, and gradually piecing together what has been going on in the family’s time both at the terrifying Hill House or in their lives since they left.

I read some reviews that suggested it was a good enough show but the characters were one-dimensional and uninteresting. I can totally see where that comes from, but equally you have to think about what this family has been through, and the fact that each sibling has essentially shut down in order to cope with the things they’ve seen. If you frame it like that, I think they do a great job.

(I don’t think this is a spoiler, but just in case, look away.) There’s also the secret insight that each child in the family represents one of the stages of grief, which I didn’t know at the time and does, indeed, make me want to rewatch again.

Having said all of that, I was a bit disappointed in the ending. It felt a bit twee after everything we had been through together. The gang sitting around a celebratory cake didn’t feel like it had enough gravitas considering the horrors that have been lived through. But structurally, it worked and I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to my friend for making me watch it, and I pass the recommendation onwards. It’s not gory, and there aren’t many jump scares, it’s just hard-core suspense and intrigue overlaid on a really good story. Great work.

Earlier this year, I worked my way through Swift Playgrounds – Apple’s easy-to-use educational tool to teach you the basics of the Swift language – and to celebrate, purchased a quite adorable R2D2 that you can program with that self-same language. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite make the leap in my head from the playgrounds I had been messing about with to the more tangible efforts with a toy, and the instructions that came with that little droid were a bit more advanced than I was.

So I’ve been pondering what the next step is and that’s when Mr C suggested having a look at the courses on Ray Wenderlich’s site. The site has an iOS learning path that starts with building an app. It throws you right in at the deep end, opening up XCode and within minutes having an app that does something, however small.

I followed that first course from start to finish, and I loved it. It’s got the right mix of introducing the basics, guiding you through the more advanced sections and glossing over what you don’t need to know yet, so that you can still get the hands on feeling of making an actual product.

Unlike the playgrounds (which I still enjoyed, don’t get me wrong), you really have a sense of working towards something which makes it that much easier to join the dots in your head and solidify the learning.

I have finished the course now and have a fully-formed app that is actually a fun game. I’m not planning to submit this to the App Store considering it’s not my invention (although a quick search of the store suggests many people have), but I am diving straight into the next course on the Ray Wenderlich path to greatness – that’s what I’m calling it anyway.

The next course is more about the Swift programming language, so back to the slightly more abstract again, but I have faith that having achieved what I have so far, learning the language this time will be more meaningful. I also know that the third course on the list gets you building another app, this time a To Do app. Goodness knows I have experience of those, so I cannot wait!