There are almost no words for this one. It was a similar reading experience to Invisible Women - intensely insightful, well written and incredibly well researched, but so frustrating. I had to keep pausing for these moments of revelation and/or anger, so it took a while to get through it. It’s a must read for anyone who wants to understand why the world works the way it does, with particular regard to racism in America but also across the rest of the world.

An incredible cast delivers an incredible film - courtroom dramas are brilliant when well done anyway, and this one is, but layer on top of that the genuine dilemma of when and when not to follow orders. I loved the three lawyers, their different approaches to the case, their banter and debates, their ultimate support of each other. It was just a great film from start to finish.

You can feel the desperation behind this, to have a hit like the first movie… but it’s just too much of everything and yet somehow a whole lot of nothing. If it was a spoof movie, I might have thought it was okay, but it’s not, it’s trying to be an action-adventure-comedy. The music was awful, the story pretty nonsensical, and some of the actions of the heros inexplicable and irritating.

It’s an interesting album because it’s not really a genre you would think goes down well - that old-school folk vibe - but it works very well. Their unique blend of harmonies is incredible, and even if all the songs aren’t to your taste, it’s impossible to ignore the talent behind it all.

Another band that I didn’t know were still around. This was an okay album, short, sharp, fast, with all the hallmarks of the punk rock feels that The Offspring used to deliver. The Hall of the Mountain King is a bit of an oddity, and I couldn’t get away from how much Gone Away sounds like Mad World. So the second half of the album was a bit of a distracted event for me, but overall pretty good!

I really liked this, James Bond works well in the short story format, potentially because there’s no time for all the in depth explanations of card games and golf courses. Bond’s interactions with women seemed a little better in this collection of stories too - he’s still the man that he is in the time he was written, but perhaps making a tiny step forward.

“I need another pair of earphones,” I said. “What’s wrong with the five pairs you already have?” “I don’t have five!” Indignantly, I counted them. I didn’t have five. I had six. But they’re all for different purposes, you know? Original AirPods - revolutionary and brilliant but struggling for battery life. AirPods Pro - to replace the AirPods, which I never quite got round to throwing away. BeatsX - sporting headphones, but again struggling for battery life. BeatsX but in a different colour - to replace the original Beats X that I couldn’t quite bring myself to ditch. AirPods Max - Because they are freaking awesome. And also felt like my ears could do with a break from all the inner ear nonsense. Beats EP - Wired Beats required for Windows laptop since working from home The new ones, by the way, are absolutely necessary and could not be fulfilled by any of the above - a pair of earphones specifically for Fitness+ workouts.

This has been on the list for a while but I’d sort of forgotten about it - Amy Poehler directs a group of amazing women on a trip to Wine Country, and there’s inevitable fallout but ultimately it’s a feel good time. Whilst not quite the quiet delights of Ammonite, this is a gentle and relaxing watch, even when the women all decide to throw themselves down a hill in solidarity with each other.

There’s a lot about Tina Turner around at the moment, with a variety of documentaries on her life being released. I realised I hadn’t listened to any of her albums so dived right in with this one. It’s perfectly Tina - that incredible voice, great messages and fun beats. Private Dancer is totally stuck in my head at this point too.

Not at all what I was expecting from The Fratellis! I didn’t know they were still around, if I’m honest, I liked some of their early stuff - a particular fan of their first single Henrietta. But this seems like a change of direction, it’s a lot more reminiscent of the 50s/60s, particularly in the riffs and style of the beats.

I don’t understand what this film is. It’s supposed to be a comedy, I think, but it’s not at all funny. It’s not a rom-com because it’s a bit too creepy for that. And it’s not a drama because pretty much nothing happens. It’s so dull! I don’t understand how such a great cast can make something so boring. Genuinely the only good thing about this film is that it made us watch The Graduate.

It was SO GOOD. Exquisite from start to finish, there’s no other word. Each frame perfectly fit the mood, the setting, capturing the emotions that Ben was feeling. It’s a good story, more of a comedy than I was expecting, but grabs you and keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen next. There’s no getting away from the fact that Benjamin acts weird at the start and just gets more and more unhinged as the movie goes on, but everyone around him isn’t squeaky clean either.

The last couple of Bond adventures haven’t totally grabbed me but I liked this one quite a lot more than I was expecting. The opening chapters were so familiar from the film - Bond foiling Goldfinger’s cheating card scam - it was amazing. I wasn’t as keen on the following pieces where a game of golf is described in excruciating detail… but then we get to the Fort Knox plot and it all picks back up again.

This is a good memoir about an unlikely adventure managing one of the highest pubs in the country, not just highest in fact but also most remote. It sounds like a complete nightmare to me, but Neil and Sue grab the challenge by the horns and absolutely smash it. The book tells of life at the pub, of the variety of different characters that frequent the pub, and of the rambling moors and nature that surrounds such a wind-swept and remote area.

I don’t think my living space is too cluttered but there are always areas that could use a bit of additional organisation and I’m always keen for a tip from the experts. This book is great in the sense that it is an Instagram account brought to life. To be honest, the concepts are pretty straight forward: get plenty of boxes and make sure you label everything. Otherwise, there’s not a lot more the words have to share, but the photos are brilliant.

This isn’t a book I would have picked up without Oprah telling me to but I’m glad she did. I had one false start with it, but on the second attempt I really got into the story. I’ll be honest, it’s a world I know nothing about and found difficult to fully understand - lots of drugs and guns and nicknames and people being mean to each other even though they liked each other. But, it was fun to explore this amazing cast of characters, a sprawling community that are trying ot make the best of their difficult circumstances.

I think there should be a genre of film that is essentially: quiet, thoughtful, will rest your mind. After a busy day, this was exactly the right film for that - just beautiful pictures, a quiet story, well-told. It’s not perfect, there are some clichés in there and a few question marks over the historical accuracy of the piece, but ultimately it was just a lovely thing to watch.

I wasn’t really expecting a lot from this movie, although the trailer looked good, and that’s exactly what it was. A good comedy movie - a weird superhero movie but a good comedy. I laughed a lot, I loved that it was predominantly women, I wasn’t totally sure about the crab arms. Worth a look.

I really thought this was going to be a lot more out there than it was, given the general presentation of Adam and his Ants. It was pretty good, really, a fully 80s pop-rock album, more pop than rock if you ask me, and actually with some good messages. Ridicule is nothing to be scared of, you know?

It’s a bit of an odd start to the album - not the songs, they’re great if intense but certainly what I was expecting from a Demi album after everything she’s been through. It’s weird that there are three super fierce songs and then the album starts. I feel as though that intro is going to be annoying on the fourth or fifth listen. But if you ignore that, everything else is great.

I honestly don’t know where to begin with this. I thought the previous Godzilla film was bad but this was absolute nonsense. Firstly, it has a fundamental problem in that all the humans in it are making terrible choices from start to finish and so it’s hard to feel sorry for them. Secondly, so much monster on monster action, and last film Godzilla was the hero but now he’s the big bad? So confused.

A lovely book this one, very much following in the footsteps of Michael Palin. Travelling the world in a unique and respectful way, engaging with the various strangers you meet along the way, learning about them and telling their stories. Some of the book was more interesting than other parts of it, there’s only so many ways to describe travelling on a train after all!

Terrible film. It had very little plot, it made no sense, it was really hard to care, and where was Kong in all this? Why did everyone suddenly fly Osprey’s everywhere? So much CGI, and for what? Dim and dusty shapes fighting each other at night and in water and barely visible. Bleurgh.

If it wasn’t for our immediate release policy, I don’t think I would have watched it. Somehow, despite my profound love of Staged, it feels too soon to be making this kind of full length entertainment about Covid and everything that’s come with it. But it turned out to be better than I was expecting, and definitely very watchable without being triggering. It starts with a stoned hedgehog, for goodness’ sake!

LeAnn Rimes’s debut album is an incredible work to thrust the teenager into the limelight, what a voice she has! It’s some traditional country, not quite reaching the pop-country heights of Shania Twain in the 90s, but plenty of good stuff on there. Also some slightly less good stuff - the Cattle Call song is not my cup of tea. The only real problem with the album though is that despite having a genuinely beautiful voice, at this stage, you know the singer doesn’t have the experience or emotional weight behind the vocals to back up the power of the songs. But that’ll come.

I was nervous about the genre of this one, hard rock just sounds scary. I know of Evanesence from that moment when they had a couple of huge songs, but I didn’t know they were still going. The album was good in and of itself but I don’t know that I will remember it or seek it out again. I quite liked it while I was listening, it felt very much Evanesence doing what they do best, you would instantly know it was them. And I did think there probably aren’t as many bands making music like this anymore, so that’s a plus. But yea, it wasn’t memorable for me.

Jacqueline Wilson is unquestionably a genius - she can write book after book that is compelling for young and old, brilliantly and perfectly capturing the emotions, confusion and fragility of being a kid in the big, bad world. This one was great because it had that extra twist of Mandy’s saviour new friend also being a bit of a rogue, then what do you do? It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger really, but that just leaves your own imagination to do the rest of the work.

It was a creative idea, and I loved the way Tom Holland handled it - in fact, I was trying to think of anyone else who might have been able to pull this off in the same way, it requires a certain set of skills. Hard-core enough to make the stand, vulnerable enough to fight his thoughts, charming enough to make it cute, etc, etc. And it wasn’t the perfect story, obviously very inspired by other things but supremely interesting and entertaining. Top notch!

A medium level spring clean uncovered this little gem in a dusty box tucked away in a random corner. I got super excited when I first saw the edge of it, because I thought it was the original part one book by George Gipe. Sadly that one is still missing in action. And I never did have a copy of part three.

It took me a while to ease back into the world of Adrian Mole, this one seemed to start so far away from where we left off, although if I’m honest I’d totally forgotten Jo Jo existed. Anyway, it’s weird seeing Adrian as a father - and disappointing at how remote he is particularly at first. As always, the comedy and the warmth come from the characters we already know - Adrian’s parents, the Braithwaites, Pandora a particular highlight! Interested to see what happens next!

Our new rule of trying to watch everything that is early released due to the current circumstances has thrown up lots of movies that we wouldn’t normally watch. Sometimes that’s been a brilliant surprise. Sometimes, it is Tom & Jerry. I’m being a bit harsh, because it was actually a watchable movie, with a decent story that shows how even enemies can work together for the greater good. The problem with it is, the humans were much better than the cartoons, I preferred all the action that didn’t include Tom & Jerry, which isn’t great for a movie based around them.

I’ve been loving the new Star content that was released on Disney+ in the UK recently, and one of the first things I checked out was Cougar Town. Featuring the lovely Courtney Cox and a lot of people that used to be in Scrubs, the show revolves around a really tight-knit group of family and friends as they navigate divorce, new relationships, new parenthood, empty nests, and lots of other things.

This album popped out of nowhere - we were talking about The King of Wishful Thinking and realised these guys had a couple of albums to visit. I actually really enjoyed it, it has that crossover 80s/90s feel, and was a lot more soulful than I was expecting, although still very much rooted in the pop genre.

First impressions of this album were that it’s good, if a little bit too Southern country for my tastes. But the second listen through had it growing on me, there were a few moments with great individual riffs and the songs started to individualise. I don’t know if it would still continue to grow on me or not, but I do know that What Would Dolly Do is an exceptional tune. The concept alone is fantastic, the lyrics back it up and it’s all set to a fab tune. So maybe the whole album didn’t work for me, but that song definitely did.

A great book, really, one you can dip in and out of and find answers you’ve been searching for or just look at questions that you’ve never even thought of asking. Some of them were a bit obvious - the diet and health ones are more of the same: eat less, move more, etc, etc. But some of the stuff on sleep was really interesting, and it surprised me how many areas we really don’t know very much about.

Was worried this was going to ruin the first one, which was a delight, but thankfully it didn’t. It wasn’t as good, I’m not about to argue that, the story didn’t hold quite as much weight as the first one, but it held its own. It felt a bit more difficult to root for Elle in this scenario - of course animal is testing is should be banned but it is hard not to laugh at someone doing it because they want to invite their dog’s mother to their wedding.

Aww, this really was a lovely book. It was a super simple story that had plenty of drama but still somehow felt as though it was gently drawing you along the story of Evelyn. She goes to the big city after a break up and finds a brand new life that she would never have predicted for herself - running and restoring an authentic old pub back to its old self. Quite a lot of the story is just how the pub gradually comes back to life which is nice. The sad twist towards the end, of course, adds a bit of jeopardy but I never doubted for one second that it would all end happily. Which it did, and then some!

This is such a weird film. Genuinely for the first hour, I didn’t really understand what it was about. It was quite entertaining, these three guys bumbling about and making a mess of their lives, but it didn’t seem to have a point. It wasn’t until the dean got involved that it actually developed a plot and started to mean something.

Well first off it was nowhere near as bad as the Bogus journey, so that’s a good start. It was watchable and overall entertaining but I can’t say that it was actually very good. To be honest, the best bits were the bits that Bill & Ted weren’t in, which isn’t ideal. Dennis the Robot took over the spot from Death - stealing every scene he was in. And it was fun for the wives and daughters to have a good story to go alongside the main antics.

Everyone’s heard of Legally Blonde, I’m sure, but I really didn’t know a lot about it other than it recently becoming a musical. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to watch it, the film was so good from start to finish! It had echoes of Clueless and Mean Girls, but also had its own thing - a young woman realising she doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone, but herself.

I really enjoyed this album, it was different to what I was expecting. Ellie’s gone for more of a country route recently, and whilst there is certainly plenty of country influence on this one, it also has a lot of pop and elements of rock. It’s not a coincidence that Apple list it as alternative. A few of the more up-tempo songs have a Jade Bird feel about them, Ellie singing with that raw throaty voice that must cause sore throats at the end of a studio session, surely? A really nice mix of songs, well worth a listen.

I think this album delivered exactly what I was expecting it too - the Jonas doing his thing with his pop beats and falsetto moments. It was fine but I don’t know that it’s something I’ll particularly remember or go back to in the future. It’s funny though, I did think as I was listening that this pop is starting to sound a bit nostalgic, like pop music has moved on already. You don’t always notice when you’re going along and who knows what it’s moved on towards but that’s the journey, isn’t it?

I wasn’t as keen on this book as I have been on others, the travel to Italy didn’t work for me as well as I’d hoped, there seemed to be quite a feature on the language barriers and different cultures without it really making any difference to the story. I did enjoy Ercole though, a fish out of water detective who was blamed for making errors when he was actually one of the smartest ones there. Still, interesting mystery that I didn’t guess any of the twists and turns to at all.

Watched the movie and almost immediately started reading the book. It’s interesting in the way it’s intensely similar but has a few differences. I feel like the book was slightly darker, some of the things that took place really take your breath away. But then there are some circumstances the film does better - the fact that the main guy was the son of the male principal in the book seems very specific, whereas the female principal in the film is a more likely occurance and creates a more nuanced story. But still, it’s girl power, it’s kick-ass, and it’s brilliant.

I assumed this would be quite similar to Alexander and his very bad day, given that it’s basically Jennifer Garner running around getting up to mischief with her family for a day. It was similar but really the exact opposite, good things as opposed to bad things happening. I think it was a lot better than that one, though. At heart, it has a good message - that parenting is really hard, that it can change you, and that easing up a bit can make a difference to both you and your kids… although be careful not to go too far. It was fun and funny, some moments were brilliant, the self-concious cop, and the youngest trying to be a bouncer when she can’t even read, hilarious.

Beautiful movie, this one, both in terms of visuals and in the message it gives about trust and humanity. I don’t know that we would have watched this if it hadn’t been an early release, but I’m so glad we did. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon film, full of hope alongside home truths about humanity, with some good laughs and cute characters along the way. Plus the majority of the main characters were women, which was brilliant to see.

I didn’t know anything about this film going into it, other than three quite impressive leads, and I’m always keen to watch Denzel doing his thing. On reflection, it might not have been the best time to watch a ‘women getting killed and male cops bumbling around trying to save the day’ given recent real world events. But then again, when’s a good time to watch a movie like that?

I knew more of these songs than I thought I was going to. They’re alright, good pop songs, sometimes catchy and they make you want to do that sway with a finger click thing. But it is cheesy, there’s no way around it. If you’re in the mood for some old school smiley pop, then this is exactly the right album.

I so very much loved WALLS, it was on my top ten albums of all time list for a long time. So I was keen to dip back into the world of these Kings, and thankfully this album is good. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of that previous outing, and I don’t know if there’s anything that particularly stands out but as a whole, I just love the sound and the flow. Good times.