Our progress on the South West Coast Path this year has been slow, or more precisely, non-existant, given everything that has been going on in the world. And because I am the kind of person who doesn’t focus on finishing one thing but quite quickly flits off to another project, I’ve found another path! This time, the England Coast Path! Why do 630 miles when you can do 2,795?

Although this was marginally better than My Best Friend’s Wedding, it’s another movie where everyone is particularly unlikeable. Jennifer Aniston goes along with the lie for no reason, the friend comes up with the lie in the first place, the boss has weird ways of trying to keep employees and thus forces the lie. Kevin Bacon is just a rogue with very little redeemable qualities, and although I did think Nick was cute, ultimately he was a bit clingy and didn’t go along with the plan that he agreed to. And still liked her after she was so bloody horrible to him. So… no. Not Aniston’s best work, and not one of my favourite films.

This was such a good film! I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it before, and only watched it because it keeps popping up in ‘people who watched this also watched…’ searches. Three brilliant women joining forces to take revenge - but even better than that, the ending was fab that it wasn’t about revenge but about making things better for the future.

Recently, I’ve really struggled to find a TV show that grabs me and keeps me interested and also sits outside of the Apple TV+ catalogue. I’ve talked at length about how great their shows are and for whatever reason, despite there being so much (too much?) choice out there, I’ve barely been able to get past the first episode of anything. I was starting to wonder if the quality of Apple’s shows hadn’t ruined other TV for me!

Well this was not at all what I was expecting and not in a good way. All the characters are pretty terrible people except George, who was wonderful and honest and supportive and really quite a loveable creature. Everyone else is just mean, duplicitous and acts insane.

If you’re any kind of space nut you’ll have heard of this podcast already - it’s been around for two series now and is an outstanding piece of production that drags you right into the heart of space missions and doesn’t let you go until they’re over. 13 Minutes to the Moon is a BBC podcast that started with the story of Apollo 11, and specifically centred on that descent from the Apollo craft to the lunar surface.

I listened to the audiobook of this, a while back, and realised for whatever reason, I never got around to reviewing it. So I quickly whipped through it again. It’s an interesting insight into the journey of a young girl who was conceived near the site of the Chernobyl reactor, to a five-times Grand Slam champion.

I think this is one of the weirdest films that I’ve not actively stopped watching. I’m aware of its cult classic status but have never seen it and didn’t have any idea what it was about. I was expecting a normal, if slightly offbeat, teen movie, but this (a bit like The Craft) takes a very dark turn and never comes back.

I tend to enjoy Panic! at the Disco music but this album doesn’t work for me at all. There are a handful of good songs in there but what really annoyed me was the variety. It’s like they took a million different music ideas and threw them into an album - different instruments, different styles, every single song was nothing like what had gone before.

It really stands up to the hype test - glorious from start to finish. There are some real highlights, of course, and Underdog massively stands out from the crowd. But I loved the somewhat chill feeling throughout. It feels like a solid, unified work, lots of self-awareness and learning and feeling good about yourself.

Although this one isn’t perfect, it stands up pretty well. It’s sentimental and soppy, but I love the semi-time travel elements to it, there’s a romance that isn’t the main obvious story, and then the Daniel character advising Elijah’s young self on romance is just adorable.

I really don’t know where to start with this film. I couldn’t remember a lot about the first one, but know that whilst the story wasn’t that great, it was the characters that endeared and made it worthwhile. Unfortunately, all that great work was undone with this one.

New software became available this week for Apple devices - phones, iPads, TV, and watches - and brought lots of new and intriguing functionality. I can’t wait to get best use out of widgets to organise the phone home screens, tracking sleep on the watch, and scribbling various things on iPad with the pencil. But one of the things I didn’t think I would be so interested in has totally grabbed my attention, and that is sharing Apple Watch faces. Putting together the ideal watch face is something I wish I was better at but just can’t get interested in. I’ve settled on two main faces for my watch, one focusing more on activity, the other on weather and calendar info. I flip between those two and that’s about it.

I know the main Culture Club classics but I don’t really know a lot else, so it was interesting to go back to the start of their journey and this debut album. Ultimately, it didn’t really work for me, it felt like they were throwing a lot of different ideas at the wall and seeing what stuck.

This feels like an album that probably shouldn’t work - The Chicks have been through a lot, have changed their name, and have used the extensive pain and misery of divorce to fuel the songwriting throughout this record. But somehow it does. It’s angry, sure, and if you’re feeling in a zen mood, it’s not going to work for you.

Everything is open Nothing is set in stone Rivers turn to ocean Oceans tide you home

When the first episodes of Ted Lasso were released on Apple TV+, I tweeted this: “Genuinely hoping for Apple TV+ to deliver a stinker at some point and I thought Ted Lasso would be it. But my word, those first three episodes made me laugh and cry. Gorgeous.” I have a lot, A LOT, more to say about Ted Lasso but I’m waiting for the series to end before I formulate some thoughts. However, in the meantime, I have managed to find a show on Apple TV+ that I haven’t liked! At last! Now I can sleep.

After being less enthusiastic about the last couple of Bond books, I really enjoyed this one. Things seemed to pick up and I feel like it tied in really closely to the film, I could picture a lot of the events in my head. It’s an odd one to begin with, though, as there are ten full chapters before James Bond even shows up. Instead, we’re with the bad guys finding out what makes them tick. It’s unusual but I quite liked it.

It’s really good. One of those lovely stories with a great cast doing nice things and just trying to make something work against the odds. I love that Celia’s character is so ready to embrace the cultural differences that make London work. And the family dynamic that they’ve created because they’re not really family at all. Heartwarming.

I’m amazed at how closely the style of the writing reflects the original author’s. The way that Frost goes about his business, the conversations he has, and the many threads of story that weave in and out of each other, it was all exactly as I expected. There are some brutal crimes, some more simple than others, and plenty of arguments, flirting and of course, insomnia. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next one.

It’s a great story underneath - the twists and turns, the tension, the who-to-trust moments - and layer on top of that a great cast and you’ve got a fab movie. Although Cruise does a lot of the heavy lifting, I really enjoyed the women in this - Holly Hunter was amazing, and I love that the wife came through for him in the end even though she still thought he had cheated.

This is a good opening album, it shows off their interesting harmonies and unique style. It’s a little bit dated at this point… but there are some highlights on there. Another Town, Another Train somehow got stuck in my head. Whilst I didn’t like so much Nina, Pretty Ballerina. But interesting to see what comes next!

I loved this! It’s so Killers right from the start - you dive right in and Flowers’ voice grabs you and doesn’t let you go. There are plenty of tunes on there, and whilst it all sounds like Killers songs, there’s nothing boring or repetitive about it. It’s all quite surreal and weird, and I think I need to pay closer attention to unravelling the lyrics when I listen next time, but I’m looking forward to it!

Michael Palin’s second travel adventure was a direct opposite of his first - rather than going around the whole world, this time he travelled from top to bottom. It was nicer that there was no time pressure, allowing for a little bit more expanse at certain stops, and certainly less worrying about the travel arrangements (although they didn’t always go to plan). And of course it was interesting to visit different countries - particularly as this trip seems to have occurred at a very changeable time in history.

I’ve seen this a few times but not for a while and I could only remember the first hour or so. Turns out there was a good reason for that. The first hour is great - teenagers discovering their inner selves and getting some power and learning how to use it. You can see why Little Mix used this as inspiration for their Black Magic video. Suddenly, though, the movie takes a sharp turn into the horror territory - hard to watch, and really quite disturbing. It lets the rest of it down.

I think I was expecting not to get to the end of this, but I tried to enter into the spirit of it with an open mind. I’m keen to watch the new Fury Road but, as always, wanted to go back to the beginning for completeness. It’s just not my cup of tea at all: brash and boorish and somehow boring despite a big car chase. The audio mix was terrible and I just didn’t want to watch more than 20 minutes.

Ultimately, I don’t think this is a particularly good movie - the premise is ridiculous and there are plot holes so wide you could drive a car through them. It was somehow predictible as rom-coms go, and also made me want to tear my hair out watching these two lying the whole time.

It’s not a story, it’s a snapshot, and it’s wonderful. Scarlet and Bill do an incredible job, and have a great chemistry, considering how unlikely companions they are. And I love how it ends - not laying everything out for you, but giving you just enough hope that everything will work out okay… and best of all you can make that whatever you want it to be.

Picked up the audiobook to accompany me on some arduous cleaning duties, and it was great. I enjoyed this much more than the first one. Camilla’s reading was really good, her portrayal of The Doctor just the right amount of quirky. My only complaint about this story is that the Doctor and Rose spend too much time apart. The moments where they come together are so fun - particularly the scene where he’s using Eastenders clues to help Rose appear to be a genius. But a good story, with a baddie we know all too well, and lots of good space travel nonsense to be enjoyed. Roll on the next one!

As a romantic comedy, this is pretty good but nothing outlandishly special. But as a behind-the-scenes of the movie industry, it’s much more entertaining. Hollywood bitches being mean to their assistants, families sticking together even though they don’t want to, how awful and contrived press junkets are, and so on. It felt like everyone in the movie was based on someone Billy Crystal knew, and probably hated.

I actually thought the first few chapters were good - really feeling how the heart had been ripped out of the family and how the new visitor was making a difference. But the final twist sort of lost me a bit. It worked in the context of the story but I didn’t enjoy the ending as much as I’d hoped. Still, only a short read, nothing lost.

I was genuinely astounded at how much this movie managed to whip through, particularly at the beginning. Half an hour and she went from happily married to convicted prisoner, another ten minutes and she was on parole ready to get revenge. There are plenty of plot holes that don’t quite work - murder is still a crime, despite what the tagline says. And she commits so many other crimes on her way to find the scoundrel that it doesn’t quite stack up.

I’ve never read a book of speeches before and thought if I was going to start anywhere, then Greta Thunberg might be a place to kick off. Of course the messages are stark and terrifying and so important, but what I really thought was interesting was the progression of the speeches.

It’s an exceptional piece of work. It puts you right in the heart of the action, and whilst I don’t totally believe someone would be as reckless as James in real life, it’s a dramatic movie that just ups the stakes. The extended sequence of him diffusing the bomb in the car is great, and when they are on the ridge just waiting to see if anything moves… how can that be interesting viewing? And yet it is.

This is such a good idea for a book - not just a list of important inventions, although there are a few of those in here obviously, but more a list of things that changed the way we think, the way businesses transact, the way the world works. Some of these felt very familiar, I guess I must have listened to the podcast, and I felt they got a little bit broader and perhaps even a little repetitive towards the end. But hey, fifty things is a lot and I’d still rather it was fifty than forty-eight or something.

Harrison Ford really makes this one, the wise old farm dog teaching lessons and generally being marvellous. Tiffany Haddish also has some excellent lines. It didn’t totally work as a movie, and wasn’t quite as good as the first, but overall, as a short film to enjoy with a glass or two of wine, it was good times.

The problem is, it feels like it’s trying so hard to be quirky that you don’t really get any time to bond with the characters - even David himself, who we spend more time with than any of the other vast array of characters, sort of feels distant. I don’t really know what motivates him or why he chooses the things he does.

Yay for going back to the start of the great Lionel Richie’s career. Of course, here he is with his Commodore friends, and that means some great soul music, excellent vocals and a really short but sweet album.

Always believe in your soul.

Really liked this album from Katy, and I’m so impressed that she’s managed to have a baby at exactly the same time as an album comes out. I do think the album starts better than it ends. At first, we’re all about self-discovery, learning to love yourself, and dealing with the world around you.

Not so sure about this one. There were bits of it I really liked, clear Bond elements that you can almost visualise on screen - the car chase ending up in a drive through cinema, the railway escapades, etc. But other bits of it weren’t that interesting. I mean, at one point Bond himself says he’s a bit bored of doing what he’s doing - if he’s not able to be interested in it, why should we care? It did touch upon a lot of elements though - horse racing, casinos, travelling by plane and by sea, some kind of mud bath sauna place, lots of things to visualise.

Mulan is one of the Disney movies that passed me by but we were intrigued by this Premier Access thing on Disney+ so had to test it out. I know there have been some complaints that this remake doesn’t feature any of the songs from the original animated musical, but I actually quite liked that. It was a bit more serious in tone because of that.

I’ve been reading a lot recently, and trying to broaden my range of subject matters too - fiction and non-fiction, short and long books, as well as catching up on some books I’ve read before but for some reason not reviewed on here. One of the things I’ve always thought slightly cumbersome is keeping track of series that you read, where you are in them, which books you own but haven’t read yet, etc. I used to use FictFact a long time ago but have learned that has since shut down, so that’s not an option anymore. However, in the last few days, I’ve been wondering more about the fundamental decisions behind reading a book series, ie. whether you should or not and when’s the best time to start.

It’s funny because none of them are particularly nice people, except maybe the mother. But even our lovely Muriel is a bad’un, stealing money and so madly obsessed with weddings. All the friends are terrible, the father is awful, the siblings not great. But even with that, you just desperately want to watch these people get through their lives, get to where they’re going, find just a smidge of happiness.

I feel like I coped/am coping quite well with lockdown, it’s not a huge chore for me to stay tucked up inside and working from home has been an absolute winner. I’m very lucky. What I have struggled with is the never-ending bombardment of bad, frustrating, idiotic news. After a few weeks of it, I gave up with the outside world and instead threw myself into the aforementioned work, and of course, into culture. It hasn’t escaped my attention that my so-called blog has actually been nothing but a collection of film and music reviews for the past couple of months.

As an album, it’s great. That nice 60s feeling, with some songs that really stand the test of time. Monday, Monday could be written today! Great voices, lovely harmonies, good times!

Hooray for Erasure! It’s a well-known fact by now that I’m a fan of Vince Clarke’s work so was very keen to devour this new offering from the synth-pop duo. I really liked it! It’s very recognisably Erasure and has all the hallmarks of their work that I love, and is a nice escape from the real world for just over half an hour.

This was the perfect film for our mood at the time - something a little bit frothy where the stakes aren’t too high. But it certainly wasn’t a perfect film by any stretch. Firstly, the stranger you meet who turns out to be your boss is such a cliche by now, surely a concept to be avoided? It was predictable in a lot of places, although still heralded a few surprises along the way.

Ah, lovely Sarah Millican. This book is just like sitting down with someone brilliant and listening to their stories, their advice, their lists. I have so much affinity with Sarah that I didn’t realise - the love of stationery, the lack of interest in having kids, the battle with self-esteem. Much to learn and love in this book. And actually, what’s great about it is that it’s not the kind of book that just says ’everything will be fine, get on with it’, but is more like, ‘you know what, everything isn’t fine but you are and you can cope, and if you can’t, I’ll be here to help.’ Which is just lovely.

This is a great little collection of war effort leaflets relating to food, rationing, exercise and generally trying to be healthy. It was eye-opening, because you sort of think of the war and rationing as a time of being hungry and unhealthy, but actually, whilst there may have been a shortness of certain foods, everything else looked super healthy. It made me quite sad to see how we have completely lost the basic building blocks of nutrition. This needs to be hammered into kids from an early age, by parents, schools, shops, governments, whoever. Make it easy and second nature.