When I want something a bit more relaxing to watch, I dip into Dawson’s Creek on Netflix. Maybe relaxing isn’t the right word, all those hyperbolic teenagers making a drama out of a molehill, but it’s a comforting treat regardless. The only problem with it is, up until this past week, the theme tune was Run Like Mad rather than the correct I Don’t Want to Wait by Paula Cole. Never has the Skip Intro button been more appropriate.

I really don’t know anything about the Beastie Boys except how well regarded they are in the music industry and of course specifically the hip-hop genre. One of the first, apparently, to make the kind of music they did. So, it was about time I gave it a listen, and broadly speaking I liked it. It’s one of those albums that is a lot for me to listen to in one go - a bit of a headache by the end. But for the most part, I liked it. Some of the lyrics and general vibes are a bit outdated but it’s inventive and catchy and powerful, so I can see why they get the respect they do.

Yay, loved this! If I’m honest there haven’t been a lot of stellar albums this year but this latest from CHVRCHES is going straight on the list. Great songs, great length, it sweeps you in and envelopes you in their synth-electro-pop fun. One notable thing was how much stronger Lauren’s accent was compared to the previous album - not sure if that was intentional or not, but I really liked it.

And so it was over. The pacing of this movie felt weird because obviously they wrapped up the dragon cliffhanger from the previous movie in the first ten minutes, and then got on with the finale. And by the end, rather than dragging on and on and on as we did in part three of LotR, it just ended with quite a lot of questions left unanswered. So weird.

This was a step up from the previous film, a lot more entertaining, and mercifully, the movies are just getting shorter as we move through this trilogy. I was very surprised at the return of Legolas, because he certainly wasn’t mentioned by name in the source material, but I think he and the new character of Tauriel added a lot to the chemistry of the characters.

Wow, this was a really boring film, arguably the worst of the lot so far. I always knew there would be some stretching out of plot, given we’re milking three films out of one slim-line book. But this was beyond a joke. It was a full 45 minutes before they even started walking, and walking is usually the worst bit… this time I was happy they’d finally got out of Bag End. For a moment, when they were chatting on about the party at the beginning, I was worried we were just going to watch the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy again just from a different perspective.

I actually thought this film was really good, probably the best of the three, until the ending when it was so drawn out, I really just needed it to be over. In fact, from start to finish, there’s probably a really good two and a half hour movie in here, it’s just elongated in the worst way to drag on over three hours.

This was a bit of a rollercoaster of a movie, the second part of a trilogy so not really a film with a beginning, middle and end. This was all middle. And there were highs (Legolas sliding down stairs on a shield, Gimli being the comic relief, the continuing breakdown of Smeagol) and there were some real lows (I detest endless battle scenes, I’ve never felt the lack of women so deeply, the tree scenes: fun but SO SLOW).

I sort of assumed Kim Wilde was a one hit wonder, Kids in America being a pop anthem but what else? Turns out she’s had a few albums but this was the first. If you like Kids in America, you’ll like the rest of the album because it’s all pretty much the same. It’s good pop but it really does all sound like riffs on the one successful song. There’s a bit of reggae thrown in for good measure, but mostly, it’s much of a muchness.

Another fantastic OneRepublic album, I’ve been looking forward to it for ages. Some of the songs stand out and stick in the mind, Run and Didn’t I are the top two for me. But the whole album works as a whole really well, the usual great anthems and enthusiastic pop that you get from Ryan Tedder and his crew. Top work!