This is everything you’d expect from a Bananarama album - fully 80s with their trademark sound, poppy and fun, and mentioning Robert De Niro for no apparent reason. It’s got a slightly disjointed feeling to it, the song Link is just a short instrumental, whilst Hot Line to Heaven takes ages to get where it’s going. But there are some great bops on there and you really can’t go wrong.

Ed Sheeran is always very hit and miss for me, and this album pretty much sums up that feeling. The good stuff is great, in fact the first half of the album is really strong, but it does tail off. The slower songs, the heartfelt stuff, are just a bit too syrupy for my taste. A lot of albums recently are super strong at the start but can’t sustain it all the way through, and in this case, Shivers and Bad Habits are the pinnacle, Sandman the opposite end of the scale.

Obviously the comparisons to Cast Away are super easy, but this was a different beast. Tom Hanks is incredible at holding the screen but he has more to play off this time, with a couple of companions, both living and robotic. The team are forced to go on a journey which means we get to see the incredible landscapes of a post-apocalyptic US, and follow Hanks as he tells a couple of heartbreaking stories along the way. I struggle with robots in movies because I get too attached, and the adorable Jeff didn’t help this problem, but it was worth it. A top movie, Hanks delivering again, and leaving a lot to think about.

Not knowing what genre we were in the mood for really made this exactly the right film to watch because it’s a very odd tone. It’s sort of like a Western, in that there is a loner coming into town to take on the big bad guy who is terrorising the locals. It’s got fight scenes galore, so that it actually seemed like a celebration of all things BodyCombat. It was fun, and I was with it, right up until the point he ripped the guy’s throat out. Kill or be killed, sure, but that’s an extreme way of getting the upper hand.

What’s most annoying about this film is we had deliberately waited to watch it having viewed John Cena too recently as Peacemaker. Not that it had particularly heightened the expectations, but what a waste of time. The bit where they were on vacation was bolshy but kinda fun, but the minute they jumped off the cliff, it got so dull… and I could absolutely see where it was going. If she didn’t turn up later, pregnant, and ruin the wedding, I would eat my hat.

My instinct is to say this book is cliched but it can’t really be because it’s an odd situation - our hero meets a potential romance by texting the phone number of her recently deceased mother. They get chatting, and events unfold. It did feel kinda cheesy, and the characters made slightly odd decisions here and there, but it was also very readable. I wanted to know what happened and how it would work out, which means it grabbed my attention, and that’s all you can ask for from a book, isn’t it?

After heartbreak, our author went travelling on her own, and this book examines the philosophies behind that and the journey it helped her to go on. I was really enjoying it, and then it felt like we went slightly off the rails, talking more about becoming a family than solo travel, however, the book continues on into the global pandemic which then brought it back to interesting philosophies about being alone and the highs and lows of isolation. A very interesting piece, this one.

I’ve read quite a lot of books about people working in the medical industry - doctors, paramedics, nurses, etc, but this is the first that focused on intensive care. The book is really nicely structured, with chapters focusing on different areas of the mind, body and soul to then tell stories about the philosophies of intensive care, the prospects and outcomes, the history of it and how it has improved, with plenty of patient examples to illustrate. Highs and lows, as always with this type of book, but very insightful.

This is a very well-written book with some great research and reporting along the way, but it left me with very mixed feelings. This guy effectively gave up on modern life and went to live in the woods for several decades, but without the provisions to be able to do so, he resorted to stealing. I supported his desire to be left alone and was worried about how he would cope once arrested, but equally, it did seem like he was terrorising the nearby neighbourhood - especially where some would happily leave out food or other necessities rather than find themselves robbed on occasion. Difficult one.

Woohoo, Halloween! Actually, if I’m honest, I’m not normally that bothered about Halloween week - the costumes are always exceptional but as a holiday, it’s not that interesting. The only prediction I had coming into this week was that someone would definitely be painted green. I wasn’t expecting that to happen right in the opening Pro number, but there it was! We also had someone painted red, but hey, I’m getting ahead of myself.

I used to listen to the podcast where Lucy Kellaway would read out her latest FT column and I always thought they were interesting and well-rounded to listen to. So I was as surprised as anyone (author included) that Lucy ditched her long-standing career as a journalist to become a teacher. This book tells of how that came about, the lessons learned along the way, and what a difference it has made to be educating from the ground up. A great read.

I’d never even heard of this movie, and I think the title is a bit odd - it doesn’t really help you understand what you’re getting. Clearly, it was a shock and a disappointment when Halle Berry’s character was killed off just twenty minutes in, but if I’m honest, it was after that when things started to get going. The movie was very slow to start but once there was a specific crime to investigate, then it was all systems go.

It’s not the best time to get obsessed with maps and walking, given that the autumn and winter weather is starting to kick in, but I recently discovered the Get Outside section of the Ordnance Survey website. As the official mappers of the UK, they have plenty to peruse on the atlas and map side of things, but they’ve also made a big effort to encourage people to leave the comfort of four walls and a roof and make the best use of their products.

This is a really good album, featuring Mariah’s incredible vocals all the way through. I don’t always enjoy it when she goes piercingly high, but you can’t fault the range. Couple of great songs on here, the cover of Without You, and of course Hero. The problem with the latter song is that it comes second on the track list, directly after Dreamlover - and it’s a really odd juxtaposition. But having said that, where would the song fit in the album anyway? It’s such a good one (and great to really belt out while you’re driving) but not one that blends well with others.

This album is like no time has past and Duran Duran just dipped right back into what they do best. The only time you realise it’s a more up to date album and we aren’t actually back in the 1980s is the couple of guest stars, bonus Tove Lo! I’m not sure any of it leaps off the page and will stick in the memory as much as, for example, Rio, does, but it’s still a really fun listen from start to finish.

This is such an interesting book, and the results are incredible for something so simple. In an effort to improve conditions in hospital, the experiment was just to introduce a checklist - not just to make sure the steps are ticked off, but to encourage people to think about what they’re doing and also foster a feeling of team camaraderie. Amazing how effective it is, and with examples in the medical industry, as well as aviation and more, it’s a wonder this isn’t shouted about more often.

I listened to the audiobook of this novelisation by Terry Nation, having previously seen the reboot series but never the original. Apparently this book has a vastly different ending to the series anyway though, so I dived in. It was naturally quite hard to get through the virus bit, given world events of late, but once that was out the way and it really was just a post-apocalyptic story of survival, then it was interesting.

I read the first book in this series a while back and dipped into the second one. It’s a good mystery, very easy to read and race through, but there’s quite a lot of repetition. Our heroes will find something out and then spend a good amount of time repeating it to their bosses or colleagues, to make sure everyone’s on the same page. I just wanted to find out whodunit! Overall good though, and I’ll seek out the next one.

This is an odd one, another workplace memoir, this time from a life in the criminal courts. It was interesting but I don’t know if it went in depth enough. Obviously you have to be careful of the law, but it felt very light, skimming the surface of a handful of trials. I think there was also a lot of implied knowledge, I didn’t really understand the career trajectory of our narrator, thinking he was a judge before he’d actually made it, etc. Good but not perfect.

This is one of those short but hardhitting memoirs, that really hits home hard due to the simplicity of the narrative. It’s an incredible read, giving insight into time spent in concentration camps during World War II, and it’s just a reminder of how horrific everything was. Weisel writes with facts and emotion but somehow manages to contain the rage and emotion that it strikes in the reader. A tough but important one.

I listened to Peter Kay’s newly released audiobook of this, his autobiography from about ten years ago. It’s a great story, well told, and with all the extra bits thrown in, it really was just like sitting down and having a chat with him. I liked the moments where he ended up reviewing his own work, or adding some notes on what has happened since the book was first published. It always makes me laugh how much real life stuff ends up in the TV shows - all that supermarket stuff, some of the conversations like for like those that he had with Kayleigh in Car Share. Loved it.

The drop out rate this week was somewhat reduced, but sadly Judi and Graziano weren’t able to perform due to testing positive for Covid. I’m sure it’s not outlandish to suggest they might have been in the bottom two this week after a couple of weeks in that position, so that left things a little bit more wide open in terms of who might perform well and who might be going home.

Coldplay have always been a divisive band, one of those who for some reason it’s cool to dislike them. I’m not sure if I’ve fallen either side of the debate, although their debut album Parachutes got me through some difficult times, so does have my esteem. I haven’t really thought about Coldplay for a while, but two things in the news recently have made me think about what this band is doing and where they’re headed.

This took a while to pick up speed, but that made the pay-off even better. It’s the kind of thriller where things start slow, and gradually the stakes ramp up, the mystery gets layered on, and you end up in a situation where the main characters effectively have to save the world. I never wanted to stop reading, despite the slow start.

I had seen this before a long time ago, but really the only thing I remembered of it is that Oliver Reed had sadly passed away during filming and they had to do some graphical trickery to finish off his storyline. What was most striking about this movie is that it has the lengthy runtime but it never felt too long. The story sweeps you up and you just want to know what is going to happen and how the corrupt Caesar is going to get his comeuppance. It’s slightly awkward that Phoenix steals the show a little bit, and Crowe can’t fully hide his Australian accent, but everyone in the cast is great.

The animation is gorgeous, the setting divine, and the first half of the film is absolutely brilliant. I didn’t even notice that the songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, except perhaps the rap in the aforementioned Rock song, but it was all good enough to keep me engrossed. Things went off the rails a bit towards the end, specifically once Maui left her alone. Then it seemed the more I thought about it, the less it made sense. Why couldn’t she just do it all herself? Come to that, why couldn’t the somehow sentient ocean just have returned the heart itself?

The first half of this album is brilliant, the great funky songs that you would come to expect from En Vogue - an earlier version of Destiny’s Child. Although it does start with a bit of chatter about being ready for a show, which isn’t annoying but doesn’t really pay off anywhere, then diving straight into the music. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like the second half stands up to the great first half, particularly that stripped back version of Yesterday - not one of my favourite songs anyway, and this version is not the best. After that, I was almost relieved to get to the end of the album, if only so I could start the first few songs again instead.

It took me a while to get my head around what this album was - it’s kind of eighties in the feel of the disco beats, but not full on synth eighties, more of a stripped back sound. And at some point a random saxophone pops up. The songs are good, meaningful and Ben has a great voice, but I’m not sure this will be particularly memorable for me going forward. The three Titanic songs were a bit odd too, but then I did quite like the way they helped know where you are in the album - beginning, middle, and end.

This book wouldn’t usually be in my field of vision but I saw a lot of people saying how good it was on Twitter and wanted to check in. It’s a short manifesto of a problem that I, because of my privilege, didn’t really know was a thing… which is exactly the problem being highlighted. The most eye-opening thing for me was the double standards - being considered both too powerful and too low-cast for compassion. A swift but important read.

I watched this as part of Project Sandy - watching all the movies the wonderful Sandra Bullock has made - and was expecting the worst. Everyone seems to bracket it in with Last Action Hero, and that one didn’t go well for us just recently. But somehow, this was incredible and terrible in equal measure. It’s funny, and satirical, and charming, whilst also being outlandish and silly, and hosting visuals that do not stand the test of time.

This is such a wonderful book. Cathy, an avid reader, takes us on a journey with her, a brief autobiography structured around which books accompanied her at which points throughout her life. When she talks of a book you have read, you can’t help but feel a warm and fuzzy feeling of agreement, and when she lists books you haven’t read, if you’re anything like me, you instantly want to read them all. It’s gentle and warm and lovely, like a big hug of books, and more than anything it made me feel like it’s okay to like what you like to whatever degree gets you through the day. Just exquisite.

It was a bad week for Strictly drop outs leading up to Saturday’s show. First, Robert and Dianne had to withdraw, which was a shame but totally understandable - health comes first! I hadn’t realised Robert had been through the heart surgery two years ago, so definitely the right thing to do. And then Ugo had to take a week out (hopefully!) due to a back issue - I’m guessing that high jump into forward roll over Oti last week wasn’t such a good idea? Anyway, let’s take a look at those who did participate.

I don’t know why but I suddenly got it into my head I wanted to listen to Starship, and after a lengthy conversation about which version of the band to listen to (Jeffersons, Airships, Starships, oh my), I disregarded it all and just went for this one. I actually really loved it. It’s not smart or clever, but it’s solid 80s pop that sounds exactly of the time it comes from. We Built This City is a favourite and has been stuck in my head ever since I listened to it, but all of it has a similar and fun sound.

This is a great album from Halsey, just as expected. It was well done in the fact that each song sounded a little bit different - ooh this is a bit like Avril Lavigne, this is a bit like Taylor Swift, etc. But they all still worked well together and all had that deep-rooted Halsey sound within them. I’m not sure any of the songs particularly stood out as one that would live long in the memory, but as a whole body of work, I really loved it.

A super short read from David Baldacci and I loved it. Effectively, the great thriller writing you expect from Baldacci with just a touch of time travel thrown on top. I guess it was a bit weird how quickly our assassin protagonist adapted to his situation, but equally, the payoff was worth it. I saw it coming only moments before it happened, and it left quite an impression on me!

It knows it’s a cheesy movie and it leans into it - they’re not trying to be too serious so that if you can relax and go with it, you get swept along in the magic and colour and recognising the pop songs and singing along. It’s fun, it’s a bit of rubbish fun. It’s slightly unfortunate for Camila, who has a great voice, that she has to stand and sing next to Idina a lot… but then I was impressed by some of her comedy moments.

I don’t know if I’ve read this one before or not, I have read a lot of Crichton books but not for a long time. It was interesting how quickly everyone adapted to the world with dinosaurs - particularly compared to the first book where there was a lot of disbelief and explanations required. But it had all the thrills and gore that you expect from a Jurassic Park novel - much better than the film that bears its name!

I used to read this blog religiously, and I’ve had the related book in my to-read pile for quite a while. It was so lovely to revisit the illustrations that I knew so well, but also to read the deeper stories behind them. Some of them were fun - the goose infiltrating the kitchen and taking over the house - but some of them were more serious - investigating what makes a person who they are, or dealing with depressions. Ultimately it’s a unique way of telling stories about your life, and I really enjoyed it.

It always surprises me how quickly a theme week arrives but here we are with Movie Week, and boy it was such a colourful collection of characters that gathered at the bottom of the stairs as the show began. We were also treated to a gorgeous pro dance opening the show with the wonderful Johannes and Kai taking centre stage - it made me warm to Kai a little bit more.

I liked this book for the extra dimension it adds to Hornblower’s already interesting life. Now he’s the captain of a ship, if not an actual Captain, with a couple of dangerous missions to do, and he excels in them all, but at the same time he’s got a home life to deal with now as well. Getting married right at the start of the book, even though he’s not sure it’s the right thing to do, Hornblower then has to deal with knowing there’s someone worrying about it at home. I liked the extra tension this brought to the open seas, and I’m keen to see what comes next for our Horry.

This album vexes me on a few levels, but none are too bad. Overall, Sean Paul is excellent, talented, and iconic in his own way. I like to listen to the tracks as they were originally released, but the album on Apple Music was the re-release that capitalised on Beyoncé’s popularity - never mind, I went with it. It’s a long old album, with a couple of songs on their twice… and I can’t tell you how confusing it is to me that there’s a song called Shake That Thing, but it’s not the shake that thing song.

This was a bit of a surprise, if I’m honest, it’s a really good album - the first half in particular. Obviously Natalie’s been around for a long time and made some good music, but I don’t know if I was expecting a huge amount from this album. It’s really good pop, not pushing the boundaries but an artist doing what they do very well. I do feel like the first few songs are stronger than the second half, it trails off a bit, but even so, the whole thing is very listenable.

The second season of supremely popular comedy Ted Lasso came to a close yesterday with the final episode wrapping up lots of open threads but also derailing everything for a cliffhanger to lead us into season three. I loved this series just as much as I loved the first one, but it can’t be denied that they are two very different beasts. As I mentioned when I wrote about the first series, I still have a desire to write about each episode individually, but for now I’ll focus on the main things that jumped out at me over the last twelve weeks.

The wonderful Billie Jean King released her autobiography to much anticipation so I was keen to get in on the early wave and read it as quickly as possible. It’s wonderful, not only because of the exceptional things BJK has done and achieved in her life, the relentless pursuit of equality and the stand she takes against bullying and prejudice, but also because she doesn’t shy away from the fact she’s not done everything right. Facing headlong into the issues, addressing the facts, and understanding that nobody’s perfect, this is a wonderful read. Brilliant, tenacious, human.

This film has all the ingredients to make something really special, and although it was ultimately a good watch, I feel like it just missed the mark. Although there was plenty of activity right from the start, it took a while to actually grab you and get invested in what was going on. Clearly the stakes were high, but you didn’t really get that sense until a good hour or so in.

I’ve been dipping in and out of some of the Dorling Kindersley books that are aimed at kids, and although this one is a beginner’s guide to science, I really think it’s aimed at anyone who wants to kick start their knowledge at any age. It has the great illustrations and picture layouts that you expect from DK, and structures the subject into sensible areas - what makes up the earth, chemicals, nature, space, and more. Highly recommended, and I notice there’s a similar book on space that I’m going to have to check out next.

I listened to the audiobook read by Tim Curry, and it was very good - far less dry than I thought it would be and ultimately very entertaining. Although I have to admit that reading about people trying to unravel a cipher is ALWAYS dull no matter how it’s written. But once they get on the journey, it’s a lot of fun. I really felt the thirst, the confusion, the rollercoaster of triumph and almost disaster. And it’s good to have read it as obviously it’s had a big impact on a lot of different culture over the years.

Nerves ahoy as this is the first week when someone actually gets voted out. After last week’s incredible opener, where everyone put in a good show and we saw a minimum of mistakes, I think the nerves and the training schedules started to get the better of some people as there were a lot more wobbles during the evening. But let’s see how that played out, couple by couple.