I really rate this album. Skin’s vocals are absolutely incredible and lead you by the hand through the highs and slightly highers of this album. The only complaint is for me sometimes it’s a bit much, a bit too raging, a bit too screaming, but it’s all done for a reason which makes it better. All I Want is great track and the middle third is exceptional. Just great work, loved it.

I love Kelsea Ballerini and always look forward to an album from this country pop icon. This is her fifth, and I’m not sure it lives up to the heady heights of Subject to Change but it is SO much better than the EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat which I did not enjoy - it being a post-divorce ragefest. This is back to postivity and all comes across really well, I don’t know there’s any particular standout songs on there but definitely very listenable.

Halloween! The timing of this theme week feels a bit off as Halloween isn’t actually until Thursday, five days after this special goes out. But never mind, we’re always ready for a bit of costume and make-up. It can be a challenging week this one, because if you don’t recognise the couple it can be harder to connect to them, but I don’t think that will be a problem this time out.

This is a great legal thriller, and although initially it seems a bit complicated, once you get stuck into it, it draws you in and you have to know what happens next. There are several layers of conspiracy and mystery to unravel, including the current situation, what happened in the past in and outside of the courtoom, and who really killed Jessica Silver all along? Lots to get your teeth stuck into and a really good read.

I’ve never seen this film before and didn’t know much about it - but it was going to be the featured group dance on Strictly, and there’s a sequel doing the rounds, so it seemed about the right time to get it ticked off the list. I don’t quite know what to make of it? It seems like a Rocky Horror style movie that if you love it, you really love it, otherwise you’re left a bit nonplussed.

I previously wrote about the new feature in Apple Podcasts that auto-generates transcripts, with mixed feelings about it. A great improvement, and a step forward for accessability, obviously, but the accuracy and layout of it weren’t exactly what I would have gone for. I said at the time: As a creator, that’s all you actually have to do, read it and check it. You can opt out and provide your own transcripts if preferred, but this would at least be a great starting place to save some time. It’s not perfect, as you’d imagine, being a first release and relying on computer-generated text-to-speech that is so much better than it used to be but still has room for improvement. Because it is just transcribing the words, there is no differentiation between speakers, whereas I used to create my transcripts more like a script.

After the snoozefest that was Friday the 13th, I wanted something a bit brighter and more cheerful and a Disney TV movie fitted the bill exactly. This was so reminiscent of High School Musical, just with added zombies on top. But it’s too different factions at a high school that at first can’t see past the end of their own noses but gradually manage to sing and dance their way to a reconciliation and a happier world. It’s not even slightly subtle with it’s message on prejudice, but still, I quite enjoyed it!

After the sad death of Liam Payne, it’s reported that all of One Direction’s albums have made an appearance back in the charts. I’m afraid part of that was me, as it turns out I haven’t done any 1D since starting this album adventure. Back to the start and their debut album and it’s great. I think nothing quite lives up to the opening track which is a standout, but it’s just good boy band pop, no notes!

I can totally see why this is called Tension II as it’s just a continuation of the previous album - great dance tunes with Kylie’s recognisably good vocals and a handful of guest stars scattered throughout. On the first listen through, I wasn’t that bothered - it was good but maybe not grabbing me as much as I’d hoped. On the second go, however, it was a lot better, and the tracks started to distinguish themselves. Midnight Ride is great, as well, with Orville’s incredible voice.

With the autumn/winter months taking hold and Halloween drawing close, it’s exactly the right time to dig out another horror movie and this time I went for the classic Friday the 13th. I don’t understand how this movie spawned a massive franchise, it was so boring? A bunch of kids running around with each other, passing the time… we literally watched them playing Monopoly. And then the occasional slasher moment that was pretty gory but felt random. I was glad when it was over but now… to watch more of the series or not?

A super quick read, this one, but a lot of fun. Once the train splits and things start to go wrong, it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen and where we’ll end up, but who hasn’t dreamt about living a one off day sprinting around Paris with a lovely and thoughtful foreign stranger. I liked that it was instant attraction but not instant love, they gave themselves time and ended up coming back together. Holiday romance done well.

I’m fuming that I haven’t read this book sooner, it’s brilliant. A sort of memoir but focused very much on what it is to be a feminist as you grow up and try to navigate this difficult world. It was all brilliant but some of it was head and shoulders above the rest. The chapter on abortion was incisive and brutally honest, and the arguments about why women need a moment to really grab their opportunities and become legendary are great. It’s not all perfect but what I loved most about it is the message that women just need to worry less and live more.

It was quite nice this weekend that there was no theme, there was no drama, no injuries, it was just straight on with the business at hand. Judges appear, couples down the stairs, let the games begin! JB & Amy - Jive Using polaroids as a learning tool is interesting, I know it was to tie in with the theme of the dance, but actually seems to work quite well. There was something a bit off about the knees or the feet or something here, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Still a competent dance and he looked like he was having fun.

This was a good read, I think I’ve probably had it hanging around my digital bookshelf since watching the film so many years ago. It’s obviously absolutely infuriating, the sheer injustice of it all, but it’s very well written to bring you into the heart of these lives. There are lots of facts and figures but it’s never boring, and there are lots of stories of hardship but it’s never without hope. Highly recommended.

A recent addition to Apple Maps is the option to create a Custom Route, and this is a great integration for me. It’s not new technology to be able to plot a potential walking route for yourself, I’ve been using various options for a while. Being able to plan where you’re going, how far a route is, how long it might take, whether it crosses busy roads, etc. it’s all part of the fun.

Dodgy and Good Enough appeared on our 1990s Top of the Pops rewatch, and it is SUCH a tune that I had to have them as the album this week. I really like this album, it’s good solid Britpop and the full album is very listenable and catchy. I loved all of it, but have to admit whenever Good Enough comes on, it is leaps and bounds above everything else. What a tune! The album would be a 5 out of 5 score except towards the end, the songs would finish and then there would be some ambient noise or mumbling or nonsense. Seemed unnecessary.

Just love Beautiful South/Paul Heaton in whatever form, they’re just such approachable, wise, funny, moving, boppy songs. I miss Jacqui Abbott on this, and feel unjustifiably grumpy towards Rianne even though she does a great job on this album and in live performances. There are a few other guests here too, and it feels like Paul wants to get a band back together but hasn’t quite got round to it. Great songs, maybe tailing off a little towards the end, but always worth another listen.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It’s been in my pile to read for a while, but I only dug it out because I recently watched the Netflix adaptation that was so, so good. Having now read it, I’m impressed with what a faithful adaptation it was, with differences only towards the end. The start of the book was high quality and I was completely engrossed in the journey of Tom as he approached Dickie and started to enmesh himself in his life.

This week, the action seemed to get straight underway, and I was glad of it because had started watching the show late and didn’t want it to go on all night! Nick was back on the dancefloor after a flurry of injuries, and so we get a bit of bonus movie week in a non-theme weekend. Let’s go! Shayne & Nancy - Cha Cha Meh, not bothered by this one. It was a bit boring for a cha cha. Also, the bowling ball bounced which isn’t really supposed to happen! He seemed more relaxed than previously, but I still don’t buy them as a partnership. Judges seemed to like it.

This is a really interesting contemporary romance novel, because although it does follow the pattern of boy-meets-girl, romance ensues, third act falling out, getting back together, etc, it feels very grown up. The two protagonists couldn’t be more different and therefore have a lot of prejudices and cultural differences to overcome… and the backdrop to the story is Brexit and all the additional pressures and arguments that that debacle caused. Definitely worth a read, although it takes a while to get used to the quite brittle main characters.

It’s no secret that I love Miranda Hart so it’s been a joy for me to see her out and about in the last week or so, emerging from a period of severe illness to release a new book about her experience and learnings. I was lucky enough to see the lady in question at the Cheltenham Literature Festival last night, and just want to celebrate that fact. She was so lovely and had the warmest reception from the crowd, as people say ‘a lot of love in the room’.

I’ve wanted to write about Knit in a Box for ages. I love, love, LOVE this concept. A subscription box, you get a surprise pattern with all the yarn, buttons and accessories you need to complete it plus a few small gifts scattered in here and there. It’s beautifully presented and really the kind of thing that just makes you happy. There are subscription options (frequency and type, ie. children’s box, ladies box) and the occasional special edition. You can get the surprise box each time, or wait until the contents are revealed and buy as one offs if they appeal. It’s just gorgeous stuff.

I’ve been gradually discovering some of the fun things that the latest iOS and watchOS releases can do, but one of the main ones in Apple Fitness suddenly became very handy recently. I was under the weather recently, and I suddenly remembered the new feature that allows you to pause your activity rings on the Apple Watch. That’s right, PAUSE!

5SOS are the kind of band where I actually know a lot of their songs but have never really placed them in my mind as a group. This is the first effort to rectify this, with their debut album, and wow, I loved it! It’s like a continuation of the sound from Busted/McFly, although a little softer. And there are some great songs on there that stand the test of time. I really enjoyed it!

I do love Keith Urban and his work and this was another good album, very listenable and with a few fun songs on there. Love the guest appearance by Lainey Wilson, but on the flip side I can live without using the word Drank in the context it is here. There aren’t really any stand out songs, and I don’t know that it lives up to some of the previous Urban works, but nothing to complain about.

Obviously, I, like many others, have been engrossed in the Bridgerton TV show, although less so in recent series’. But it’s taken me a while to get round to reading the source material. I quite liked it, it took me a little while to get in to the style, as it does feel odd to read such a period piece but with echoes of modernity in it. However, the TV adaptation is pretty faithful to the book, so it was easy to picture all the scenes as we went along, and I quite enjoyed it.

This is one of those super quick and easy holiday reads, I think it must have been a free Apple book of the week as I don’t know that I would have specifically picked it up. There’s a lot of family drama in here, lots of secrets and twists and turns to unravel. It’s a little bit drawn out, particularly towards the end when you can really start predicting what’s happening, but it’s easy and unchallenging and a bit of a salve on the brain.

Movie week! Always a fun week, guessing the movie as the couples walk down the stairs, admiring the costumes and makeup, and generally relishing in how many films we’ve watched and how many more there are still to go! Nick Knowles was absent this week after picking up another injury, that’s concerning for him at such an early stage, will have to see how well he recovers. And after the surprise elimination last week of Tom & Nadiya, all eyes on the dancefloor for who will be next to exit stage right.

This was a good Christie read, introducing the character of Superintendent Battle, who is wise and thoughtful, but I thought didn’t really have that much impact on the way the story works out. I’m always happily surprised by the female characters in these early Christie books - so spunky and ready to get stuck in, which isn’t quite the style they’re used to in this time period. Anyway, a good read, a great mystery, lots of twists and turns and a satisfying ending.

We’re a week into October already, so I’m a bit late to share this, but I recently stumbled on the Optimistic October calendar produced by Action for Happiness, and I love it. It’s just a simple idea each day to try and feel a bit happier and why not? It’s been a while since I did a 30 day challenge but this one seems a worthy contender.

At the end of volume 4, it said 5 would be the last in the series, so I thought I would just carry straight on and read through. As it turns out, there’s scheduled to be at least one more, but I don’t regret reading it! This time there’s a big focus on making decisions for the future and how selfish you have to be when it comes to the big things… but also how you can still make a serious relationship work as long as you are honest with each other.

I’m a bit out of the loop on movies at the moment, we’ve not been doing very well on the film front as TV and particularly nostalgic stuff has taken more of a front-seat. But from the looks of things, there’s not that much going on at the moment anyway. November has a few options to choose from but October and December are looking very light.

Just love these graphic novels. Ahead of watching the latest series on Netflix, I thought I would read the book first - they’re so similar, the TV show so faithful to it’s source material, so it’s nice to read it ahead of time. In this one, things are starting to get serious and it has a darker tone but such important stuff - the idea of vulnerability, of dealing with your mental health, but also how difficult it can be for those trying to support as well. Really good.

Another from our 90s adventure: this is not one I’m familiar with but Mr C was very excited about. It reminded me quite a lot of James - some good Britpop style songs but every now and then they would throw in something unexpected or in a higher pitch than you’d imagine. Not as annoying as James though, so I really enjoyed it.

So, you hear that Paris Hilton has released an album and of course you expect the worst, but at the same time, it’s a must listen, right? What will this album be like? Actually, it was alright! The songs are fine, maybe almost good. There’s a nice array of guest stars and it’s a reasonable length. The problem is, I’ve not heard quite so much autotune in a while, and the guest stars end up being stronger than Paris which is a bit awkward. A pleasant surprise and much better than I was expecting, but not a classic by any stretch.

Love this. I’m a relatively recent convert to Inside No. 9 and caught up in several series in one go before enjoying the final series earlier this year. Script books are always fun when you love the show, and this one has little bonus nuggets as they are shooting scripts with scenes that didn’t always make the final edit. My only complaint is that I would have liked a little bit more behind-the-scenes thoughts. There’s just an intro to each series, which is insightful, but I’m always keen on getting more from the creators on their process and how the finished product came to be. But I’ll take what little there is here and love it!

You never quite know what you’re going to get with a John Grisham thriller - they’re always written in a certain style that really appeals to me, but it can approach any aspect of the legal world and dip into the murky worlds within. At first, I thought this one was going to be pretty dull - a lot of people prancing around each other and far too much politics for me to follow… but it gradually started coming together, and I found it really interesting once our new supreme justice had to face the consequences or realities of his own previous decisions. Interesting stuff.

Overall, I think this is a good thriller with an intriguing ending that I didn’t see coming. It does take quite a long time to get there, and feels like it gets a bit muddled in the middle, but it’s well written and keeps you guessing. The main character of Alicia was a little underused too, partly due to her self-imposed muteness but even once she opened up it felt like we could have spent more time with her. But I did enjoy reading it and the suspense was well done.

I played this when it was first released, one of the early games on Apple Arcade and one that was exclusive to the platform I believe. It captivated me at first, such a good idea of gameplay, and lots of fun. Gradually, I played it less and less and haven’t looked at it in a while. There was an update a few weeks ago that added some new books to the library within, and that made me give it another look and what do you know? It’s captivated me again!

People were raving about this game when it was released, so I bought it last year and played a little bit - but back then all my thoughts were on Spider-Man and finishing off saving the streets of New York. I did enter Hogwarts a little bit, but it’s not until recently that I’ve really managed to give the wizarding world my full attention. I’m obviously a big Harry Potter fan, having read the books and watched the films and reliving the world on a regular basis. I know there was some criticism of the game before it was released due to the original authors views, but hopefully this game can be considered separate to that.

I love, love, loved the original couple of Temple Run games. Endless runners, they involved you swiping and jumping and collecting coins and unlocking objectives and seeing just how far you could get in one go. Then a new version came out that tried to capitalise on the trend for match three games and it was so unlike anything before, it sort of soured the experience for me. This, though, is a return to form to a point. It was free to play on Apple Arcade, so didn’t need any additional investment, but was it worth it?

I was feeling under the weather and wanted something kind of relaxing to just chill out with, and although it’s not a new game under the Apple Arcade banner, it popped up as something that might fit the bill. I like doing the occasional jigsaw puzzle, but don’t really have any in the house as don’t have the time or space to have them out and leave them out. Plus I’m notorious for losing things which can be frustrating! So having it all wrapped up in the digital form is much better!

I used to play this style of game a lot - usually in the food genre, but sometimes a spa here or a supermarket there. Something about them really grabs my attention, short levels that you just have to get really good at time management to get the most out of. It’s been a long time since I saw any that caught my attention, and whilst I wouldn’t say that wedding designing is high up on my list of interests, this was a free game via Apple Arcade so there was no harm in giving it a go.

I don’t know when I first saw this but I definitely had it on DVD and had it as one of those things you watch in the background while cleaning or cooking. Lovely Hugh Jackman before he was properly famous, showing off the skills that he later puts to good use as the Greatest Showman. Oklahoma is a bit of a mixed bag though, it’s very long and the dream sequence is diabolical, and I’m not sure the songs really live up to the hype. But I do enjoy the chemistry between the leads and People Will Say We’re in Love is really done well. Plus adorable scatter-brained Ado Annie steals every scene she’s in.

I expect great things from O’Leary after how great the Flatmate was, and I’m not sure this one completely lived up to those heights but it was still a very good rom-com. It was slightly annoying because the story is told from two perspectives and thus it was SO obvious that everything was based on a misunderstanding… you sort of want to just bang their heads together. Why are they both so stubborn? But it ended in a chase to the airport to declare your love that was actually somehow realistic so many bonus points for that!

There were the tiniest of tweaks to the format of this show that for some reason I found really unsettling. Tess and Claudia were already there bang on screen after the credits, rather than walking out to meet each other. And let’s not talk about what a mess the judge’s little dance section is these days! But anyway, they are tiny things that just help to distract from the fact that we’re saying goodbye to our first dancer this week!

I have mixed feelings about Sharpe so far, I love the characters and particularly the complex Sharpe himself: he wanted to be an officer but hates it, he wants to leave the army but enjoys the structure of it, he wants to trust people, but quite rightly doesn’t! All of that layered on top of a big battle - and that’s the bit I enjoy less, it’s so well researched and described but just not that engaging for me. However, taken as an overall piece, I loved it and will definitely be reading the next in the series.

This one has been on my radar for a while as it seemed like such a silly idea… and one day when I was under the weather, it was the exact right time to watch it. There are plot holes galore and most explanations are simply ’they’ve evolved’ which is obviously going to happen but is a very convenient phrase. I was surprised at how serious the film was though, it’s not one of those shark-fest nonsense things, although it’s not done brilliantly, there are some good thoughts in here and the ending was a real surprise! Turns out it doesn’t all work out fine in the end!

I knew this album far more than I was expecting, I must have owned it on CD or something because the running order felt familiar. However, on the flip side to that, I’m not sure I knew it at all - Mike Batt was behind basically all of it? Who knew? It’s great though, those amazing vocals, and tracks that are about as jazzy as I’m willing to go. A specific mood but exactly the right album to listen to when that mood strikes.