So much love for this. I often forget to check xkcd but every time I do, there’s always something that resonates.

This is the first book in a lengthy series about the Women’s Murder Club, a collection of professional women who meet and bring their various expertise to the table (usually a cafe or wine bar table) to solve crimes. In this first book, the club is gathered together, instigated by Lindsay Boxer, as they try to solve a particularly gruesome wedding killer.

Console gaming is a slow moving beast, particularly when compared with the fast moving online and app world. But after twenty years in the business, and with a desperate need to distinguish themselves from Microsoft’s offerings, Sony should know better, try harder, get the digital side working seamlessly. Santa brought us an incredible gift this Christmas, in the shape of a Playstation 4. It’s been well documented that we don’t really do gifts, but this was something we wanted and would have bought ourselves as soon as we could have found stock, so it was really the perfect present.

As part of my Big Read list, I hadn’t heard of this book before, but it was an interesting one! Another of those sprawling epics following multiple generations of the same family through birth, love, death and everything in between. Set in New Zealand and Australia at the turn of the 20th century, there’s plenty of reference to the heat, humidity and dust, and the suffocating nature of the conditions really comes across in the prose.

As my interest in Mark Wahlberg continues to grow, this had to be on our list of films to watch, although the premise seemed a bit odd and the trailer didn’t peak our interest massively. Still, it looked good, and it was on the Playstation store, as we investigated the Sony option of renting films.

One of those films in the Love Actually strain, and one of those that I have to be in exactly the right mood for. New Year’s Day was the perfect time, because my brain was too fried for Sherlock, but just about right for nonsensical romancey stuff.

Just as with the top five songs of the year, Mr C also likes to pass judgement on the movies we have watched over the past twelve months as well. This is a slightly more tricky selection to explain, as we live constantly about four months behind cinema release dates due to the rental window. So, it’s not quite “top five films released in 2013” and it’s not really “top five films watched in 2013” either, it’s more “top five films that were released between August 2012 and August 2013 that we watched in 2013.” But that’s not as catchy.

It’s the last day of the year, and this is the time when people start making New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t tend to do that anymore, instead working from a broader Life List instead. When I set about thinking of this annual round-up, I felt a little disappointed about how much (or how little) I’ve achieved this year. Looking back can be useful though, as I hadn’t quite realised I’d been to so many places!

This is the time of year where I hand over the keys of my blog to Mr C, or at least give him a paragraph or two of space, to share the things he’s been loving this year. There are two categories - films and music - and we’ll be starting with the latter. Here’s Mr C’s top five songs from 2013, and I will tell you now, it’s been a heartwrenching process to whittle these down to just five.

This year, I was quite excited to see the Top of the Pops Christmas special, because it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t seen much, if any, of the TOTP brand through the year. I used to watch the 1970s editions that were showing on BBC Four but soon bored of that. I remember last year, there was a festive edition on both Christmas Day and New Year’s, and although there were some acts who couldn’t even be bothered to change between programmes, it was still brilliant.

I was aware of this one through the entire process - trailers, cinema, and then the rental window - but I didn’t really think I wanted to watch it. All the elements should add up to my kind of film - Blockbuster, machinery, a terrifyingly awful future, etc, etc. I can’t explain why I didn’t want to see it, but I put it off and off until eventually I had to give in.

We really loved the first Red film, just a fun romp through the world of spying and double agents, but with the twist of everyone being slightly older. Thus, we were very much looking forward to the sequel, with the trailer raising our expectations even more.

I hadn’t heard of this film before it appeared as a rental, but a quick view of the trailer made it seem like one of those off-beat ones that is probably good for a viewing. There were a few laughs in the preview, so after the horror of Elysium, we wanted something a bit more… human.

Very disappointing. Far too gory for no good reason, mostly predictable, and not a strong enough story to sustain the full length of the film. I also have problems with the ending, because, clearly the situation was unfair but it evolved that way for a reason, and just levelling the playing field isn’t going to help anyone, it puts them right back in the same place as when, presumably, the dystopia started. Also, the big bad guy was hard to take seriously.

I used to be a total Grinch about Christmas. The entire concept offended me and I wanted nothing to do with it. I’d link to the many posts I wrote about boycotting the festive season, but really, I’m over it. I’ve mellowed in my old age. In reality, I’ve realised that my issue with Christmas is the same as the issue I have with most things - the pressure from society to do things you don’t want to do.

This Christmas special found itself with a really difficult task to accomplish. Following the almost-perfect anniversary special was always going to be difficult, but it also had to steer clear of the normal festive schmultz to head rapidly towards a regeneration. It was still a heartwarming piece in places, the children of the town called Christmas, the Doctor’s dedication to staying in spite of himself, and Clara’s constant despair at being left behind.

Actually this was surprisingly good. All four were really good, and although there were some scenes I could have done without, and plenty of cringeworthy bits, it was entertaining. I loved the little references here and there, and the bloopers at the end were great fun. One of the better comedies I’ve seen for a while.

Overall this still holds up really well, a great story and pretty well acted throughout. I read or heard someone talking about re-watching this as an adult and how it just wasn’t as good because the scenes with the burglars were just too painful. It definitely was more difficult to watch but I still enjoyed it - even if I did have to cover my eyes on occasion.

I quite enjoyed the language, it really made you feel like you were right there. But, having said that, I’m not sure I followed the story at all well. Some of the twists and turns, and ways that Kim managed to escape situations were fun, but when I got to the end, I’m not sure I could have repeated exactly what the point of the book was or what happened.

An interesting read, this one. It managed to steer clear of some of the more predictable cop thriller tropes, for example, our protagonist was taken off the case before it even got going, rather than halfway through. Dagny Gray was a difficult character to get to like, and I was a bit disappointed that the anorexia storyline did’t go anywhere. It had been pretty well handled up to the point it just disappeared.

Every Formula One season tells a story. A continuing saga, a sporting soap opera, it dates back to the inauguration of the World Championship in 1950 and even before that. At the same time, each and every year, the slate is wiped clean and both drivers and teams are given the chance to impress all over again. This book will guide you through the 2013 season, visiting each event in turn to see how the year unfolded, and how events wound their way towards the season-closing race in Brazil. From the early anticipation of brand new rookie drivers, to the closing stages with familiar faces on the podium, you’ll revisit the highs and lows of another page added to F1’s illustrious and often controversial history.

The chaps in charge of Tomb Raider these days, Square Enix, have in their infinite wisdom released the first installment of the game for iOS devices for just 69p. I was always more of a fan of Tomb Raider 2, but getting access to any of the early games has been tricky of late. Now, the game that made Lara Croft famous has been released for next to nothing and it looks great!

I really liked it! Actually, I adored the first half an hour, when it was just the guys hanging out and niggling at each other. I probably could have watched the entire film without any of the alien/robot influence. But there was that entire robot plot to deal with, and they handled it well - I thought there was a bit too much fighting, that’s not really why you watch these films, but otherwise it was good, funny, with nods to the other two, and a none-too-happy ending.

This was a fascinating finish to the trilogy, something just a little bit different. It was a lot darker, with fewer laughs, and it almost didn’t seem like a comedy, more like a drama with some amusing lines in. That being said, it was better than the second one for being different, even if it wasn’t as funny and certainly nowhere near a patch on the first. Overall, I’d say that they should have just stuck with the first film, but given that they cashed in for the franchise, they could have done worse than finish with this one.

This weekend, we had chance to test out the slow-motion feature on my new iPhone. It’s something we’ve been excited about (as there aren’t that many major feature upgrades on the phone), but we needed some time and something fast moving to video. Step up some trusty alcohol. I love it. Although, I’ve realised that many of the videos I take tend to be slower things that need speeding up, but I hope to look at things a different way in future!

At some point this year, I became absolutely obsessed with Cabin Pressure. If you’re not aware of it, Cabin Pressure is a Radio 4 sitcom, penned by John Finnemore and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephanie Cole and Finnemore himself. It follows the plight of a small charter airline (although you can’t put just one plane in a line) and it is brilliant. I don’t remember where I heard of it, but with a little bit of an iTunes gift card remaining, I snapped up the first series and gave it a listen. I was almost instantly hooked, and bought the rest as soon as I could.

Just really, really bad. There were two actual funny moments, and the rest was occasionally amusing - most of which was down to the consumption of wine anyway. It felt like a lot of sketches sewn together, as the film didn’t really have a point. The first was about them getting back together as friends and reconciling their childhood dreams with the reality of adulthood. This one was a hotchpotch of things, with no central theme, and the people didn’t seem to gel as well as they did the first time. Also, wtf with the deer?

A really good adventure, and a fascinating partnership between the two main guys. It wasn’t a top five sort of film, but I still really enjoyed it. I guess there were a few too many factions, and we’ve established that I struggle when there are too many sides to a story! The beginning also confused me, with the slight jump back in time, for a minute I was worried it was going to go all Memento, but it didn’t. Overall, very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

This was such a fascinating read - inspiring and yet so very sad at the same time. Chronicling the full journey from departing New Zealand, to arriving and fighting through the ice, to setting up ‘home’ through the winter and then the final journey. I knew about the iconic quotes, going outside, being some time, that kind of thing, but seeing it in context was just so desperately sad.

At the beginning of this year, I wrote about my ambitions to complete a puzzle book. Not a grand aim, I’ll grant you, and not one I thought it would take me almost twelve months to get back to. I have, on occasion, sat down to write an update about my adventures through puzzle land, but as it turns out, writing about puzzles isn’t as entertaining as I thought it might be! Then again, actually doing them isn’t as good as I thought it would be either.

It was good. I was sure I was going to use our twenty minute ‘stop-watching’ rule but I didn’t need too. It was funny in the right places, and interesting enough - I don’t really understand why the character is so enduring, he didn’t seem particularly special… just an amusing guy. It was very BBC, you know, all the people that you recognise from TV, which isn’t a bad thing, but made it feel more like an extended TV special rather than a big Hollywood film.

When I first starting putting together my Life List, I pondered adding “See a Backstreet Boys concert” to it. I added it, then I took it off again, then added it, then removed it, and repeated the process a few more times. In the end, I left it off. I wasn’t totally convinced I wanted to see the band with just four members anyway, and besides, going to gigs isn’t really my thing.

On the positive side, this was better than Superman Returns, and they set everything up for more films in the future. It did suffer from ‘origin story bloat’ in that they had to fit in the whole back story and then try and squeeze in a modern day story as well, which meant it had to be hugely long.

I’m gradually getting more and more interested in history books, the more I read the more I want to know. This was recommended to me a long, long time ago, and I’ve just got around to finishing it. On the one hand, it’s a good book, well-written and interesting. On the other hand, all the people within it are awful!

I’ve been following the progress of Ghost, a new Kickstarter-funded blogging platform, for a while. It just recently went live for self-hosted blogs, which I briefly considered signing up to. I really want to try out and encourage new blogging formats, rather than the same-old, same-old, but having been through the pain of self-hosted, I decided I’d wait for the hosted solution instead. This week, the brilliant Ghost folks gave me beta access to the hosted platform, so I immediately checked it out. There are three things to note straight away:

I’ve developed a bit of a fascination with workout apps and digital videos, and it turns out iTunes is stocked full of both. I’ve tried a few here and there, but was most excited when it was announced that Miranda Hart, of Miranda fame, was going to release something. The premise behind her video is that you have to have fun while getting up and moving, otherwise it’s easier to sit on the couch. Hence, Maracattack! It’s a good premise.

Mostly, this was very good. It took a long time to get going, and actually the bits where Sandra and Melissa were doing their own thing were not as much fun. When they finally got together and started working as a duo, it was a lot better. Aside from that, the only real problem I had with it was how predictable it was in terms of a cop story - as mentioned above, the heart to heart in the bar and then being taken off the case, and then actually winning the day.

Up until recently, Bose was just a name that I occasionally heard in reference to headphones. I didn’t realise it was a pretty big brand that have their own stores and everything, not until I was dragged into one. Mr C was investigating the options for their SoundTouch system, and wanted to get a closer look. The SoundTouch is a pretty clever piece of kit, similar to the Sonos system. The idea is that you have speakers of varying sizes littered throughout your house, and they can all be controlled from the one app – either on your desktop or mobile device. They can all play the same thing, or each can play something different, and they hook up to the wifi so can access all the internet radio stations across the globe. You can also Airplay stuff to them from Apple devices, and control things via remote if you don’t have the app to hand.

This is another of those huge saga stories, following a full generation, almost two, from birth to death, and everything that happens in between. It’s reminiscent of Archer’s other works - Cain and Abel style - and is just as good. The thing about these books is they’re not always beautifully written but they’re a page-turner anyway, because you just want to know what happens next.

I managed to miss a lot of the hype surrounding the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who. Obviously in the run up to the episode airing, it was almost impossible to take an online step without finding something related to the sci-fi show, but before that, I’d side-stepped most of it. I knew of the Billie Piper/David Tennant return, and was obviously expecting an appearance from this new rogue Doctor we were introduced to at the end of the previous episode, but that was it.

There was never any doubt that we would watch this one, as the first film was an instant hit in our household. My recent blog header would indicate as much, with minions becoming a firm favourite of mine. We had to wait until my exams had finished, partly because I wanted to use the film as a treat for getting through it, and partly because I knew I couldn’t cope with the minion-ness until I was done!

I’ve not seen The Wire, but I was still interested in the book that the TV series was based on - because it seems like an original of those ‘on-the-job’ memoirs I’ve been fascinated by of late. Following one year in the Baltimore homicide police department, the book tracks a few cases, a lot of deaths but most importantly, the men who are in charge of investigating the two.

The trailers Okay, so, we watched The Internship recently and it left a pretty awful taste in our mouths. I’m thinking that watching Vince Vaugn do something slightly less of a commercial might work, and thus the trailer for Delivery Man kinda works. It’s a pretty far-fetched concept, and all seems a bit contrived, but hey, I didn’t see any Google in the trailer, so I’m sold. Delivery Man

I’ve always managed to get a lot of use out of my iPad. There are two main dilemmas around Apple’s tablet device (aside from price, etc) with one being “What would I use it for?” and the other being “It’s only good for consuming, not creating.” My iPad has always been kept busy, but I would admit that it’s mostly for consumption. Watching TV, videos, listening to music, browsing the web, playing games, the usual kind of thing. I upgraded to the new iPad Air, and wanted to try it out and see how much of my day to day desktop activities it could replace.

Sky have been expanding their Now TV offering with a fantastic Entertainment Pass. The Now TV app is on demand and live programming from Sky without having to sign up to a huge contract, or get dish-shaped things installed on the side of your house. They’ve got sports and movies, but it’s the entertainment package that has really caught my eye. For £4.99 a month (introductory price, we’ll have to see what it goes up to later), you get access to some of Sky’s entertainment channels, with a mix of full series on demand, selected catch up shows, and as mentioned, live coverage. The price is good, for now, matching Netflix, and it’s a similar service with different content inside.

As soon as the film was over, Mr C and I turned to each other and shuddered. It really does make you feel dirty for having watched it. That’s a real shame, too, because there’s quite a lot of good in there. There’s a great story bubbling under all the primary colours - fish out of water salesmen, adapting to the changing technologies, connecting with younger generations, and helping them find themselves in a very difficult environment. When they were stood on the hill, looking out over the bay, I thought, that’s a really nice moment.

It was what I expected - a traditional rom-com style story, with two great performances from Tina Fey and Paul Rudd. The characters were all completely crazy but that was part of the fun. I liked it, but it wasn’t particularly special. A nice filler movie if you’ve got some time to waste or want a feel-good Sunday afternoon thing. It might mean more if you had experienced the university thing, in any country, but particularly the seemingly obscure admissions process that this film is based.

I thought this was a really good film, surprising actually because I wasn’t filled with hope going into it. The direction is so very Baz Luhrmann and although it takes a bit of getting used to, it spices up what could otherwise be a dull two and a bit hours. The acting is good, Leonardo is really on top-form. I’ve realised that although I do have a big problem with the dialogue in Spiderman, a lot of my feelings might also come from Tobey Maguire… just not a fan. Aside from that, though, the only real problem with the film is the same as with the book - none of the characters are particularly likeable or relatable which makes it hard to properly care.

When I took on some pretty serious studying, I knew I’d have to make some sacrifices and that the book learning, revision hours and exam week would need a lot of time, focus and brain power. I hadn’t quite anticipated the degree with which diving into those books took over my life, but this week I finished up the first batch of exams, giving me a bit of breathing space before the next round of learning begins.

The Beach is another book that I’ve read several times, and really enjoy it. It’s been a while since the last outing, though, so I had mostly forgotten the intricate twists and turns that the story takes. What’s brilliant about it is how subtly things go wrong. An island dream paradise, with fellow travellers who all work and play and get along together.