Having been focused on my personal finances for a while now, it was interesting to read this book about how to keep tabs on your pennies in the modern world. Banking and finance is undergoing a bit of a digital revolution so it’s important to stay on top of it and Anne Boden is here to help.

My obsession with Taskmaster meant I was always going to eventually read this book, but it wasn’t until creator Alex Horne was tweeting about the picnic meet-up that I was properly invested. So backing up a little - the book is really just a list of tasks that you can take part in yourself, either as a solo project or as a group endeavour. They’re fun tasks but of course the real comedy and enjoyment comes from how you interpret them.

This short book about how the play came together was, of course, right up my street. It’s a fascinating look from the producers at every corner of bringing the two-part production to life. From the early days of meeting JK Rowling and coming up with an idea, through the writing and rewriting process, through first rehearsals to tech run-throughs, make-up, costume, illusions, and finally the opening nights across the world.

Well this was a tough one, wasn’t it? The halfway point, hooray, the dancers are really starting to get it all together. But we had to wave goodbye to Will, which was very sad. And poor Neil also had to sit out another week and hand over the dance to a thankfully slightly more prepared Kevin. Here are some thoughts as the whole thing unfolded. Karim and Amy. “Not bad if you did the right steps,” she says in training. Encouraging! A great dance, I feel like he lost definition a couple of times but a really amazing job - energetic as always but seemed more in control this time. Epic scoring.

Apple TV+ launched on Friday and yes, you can expect plenty of future updates on the content that came with it. Dickinson was mega! But this isn’t about that. This is about the first episode of Oprah’s Book Club distributed by Apple. I’ve already discussed how I dived right in and started reading the book as Apple quite cleverly coincided the book club with their new reading goals in the Books app.

This past week, the BBC aired their behind the scenes documentary about how their latest Children In Need initiative came together. A handful of actors got together to record an album of covers, solo songs that are personal to them for a variety of reasons and a group track to finish it all off. The 90 minute programme followed their journey from selecting the songs through perfecting their vocals and then the nerves of recording. I thought it was fascinating to see how the various people took to the challenge - Helena Bonham Carter went traditionally a bit off piste, Olivia Colman was insanely nervous about the whole thing, Luke Evans just rocked up and did it no problem, Suranne Jones took her song to the kids, and Adrian Lester showed off some remarkable beat-boxing skills.

Yay, I loved this album. I don’t know why it’s taken my so long to listen to any Keith Urban, as his is the kind of country music I like. Somewhere In My Car is an absolute banger that I loved when it was over-played on the radio. And the rest of the album stacks up too, it’s great work from someone who isn’t a native Nashville.

I love the inventiveness, there are some great songs on the album and it’s not really anything I’ve heard too much of before. But having said that, by the end, I was a bit fatigued by the whole thing. Rex doesn’t have the strongest of vocals which is fine for one or two songs but sustained over the full 35 minutes is quite a lot to take.

It took me a while to get into the flow of the book, it has a dream-like quality and one where no extraneous explanations are given. The facts, the dialogue, they’re all there if you choose to find them, and I’m confident plenty of it went over my head. That took nothing away from it though, the story grabs you and, for want of a better word, conducts you through the various adventures.

The US version of The Office has been off air for over six years, but it is barely out of the public consciousness and rarely a day goes by that I don’t see an Office gif fly by on my Twitter stream. The success of the Office didn’t diminish the brilliance of the original UK version but it certainly dwarfed it in popularity – spreading its wings to be much more of an ensemble piece, and covering far more ground than the original two series ever could.

Oh, Halloween week. And this time someone is dancing to the Backstreet Boys. Hooray! I’m surprised that we haven’t started hearing all about Blackpool yet, but perhaps that is the next milestone? Who will get there? Read on! Hope Will gets better soon, oof! And Neil! Although I have to say, Kevin, of course, fits Ghostbusters very well. Loving that the name patch clearly has space for four letters but has squeezed in Kev instead.

So many muddled thoughts after this one. Firstly, it felt too soon after Avengers. I needed more time to process what had happened, and I don’t get why this movie is the end of the current phase rather than the huge epic that Avengers was. And then, I’ve been so in love with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, he’s been the best thing in the Avengers for a while, but this one didn’t quite hit the same mark. I guess he’s changed since the events of the previous Marvel movies.

You know that Lennox can produce good songs and the Eurythmics have some classics, but kicking off your debut solo album with Why and Walking On Broken Glass is stamping your own mark on music for sure. They are two such epic songs, you sort of wonder if the rest of the album can live up to it, but it does.

First time I listened to this album, I thought it was really boring and I wasn’t sure I can get through another listen. I don’t know why I was so harsh on it, because second time round, it was actually really good. Of course, Keane has that downbeat air around them, that’s what they do but the songs were quite good in the end. I didn’t like the Stupid Things one, coming so quickly after a song where he’s professing his love, but other than that, it was a perfectly good Keane album.

I recently discovered the podcast Robot or Not which is an audio show where: “Jason Snell asks John Siracusa to rule on the meaning of various words and concepts. It’s not just about robots anymore.” I have been listening to the entire back catalogue, partly because the episodes are so short but also because they’re so fascinating. As the title suggests, the concept started out solely about robots but has branched out to food, ethics, religion and actually quite a lot about food. One of the older episodes I listened to was all about how to distinguish between movies and television these days.

This week, guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro sat in for Bruno Tonioli. He did the same thing last year, but I wasn’t watching then, so it was the first time I’ve seen him in action. Such fun! It was actually quite nice to have a bit of a different line up, I wouldn’t want there to be guest judges every week, but it’s no bad thing to hear from different voices. Anyway, on with the notes as it happened:

This film was so bad! The only good thing about it existing is that it made us watch the first one but that’s it. In no particular order: bad acting, bad storyline, weirdest dialogue ever, more cop movie than fire movie, dodgy special effects and plot holes galore.

I can’t commit to listening to Beats 1 on a regular basis, as much as I love what they’re doing on the Apple Music platform – but there’s one thing I try very hard not to miss, and that’s Julie Adenuga’s Friday show. It’s Fridaaaaaaaaay. I love Julie, and her weekday show is excellent, crammed with music and interviews that sometimes veer slightly too grime for my tastes but otherwise are eminently enjoyable and listenable. However, when you get to the Friday show, things really shift into gear.

I loved this album. It was very familiar to me, even though I’m pretty sure I didn’t own it when I was younger. I did have the single Say What You Want, the remix version, which I slightly prefer to the album version but even so, it’s one of the best songs on the record.

I’ve been following Kelleigh Bannen for the last few years, ever since she launched the excellent podcast This Nashville Life which delved behind the scenes of trying to make a career out of country music in its homeland. She’s been working her socks off for a long time, and finally the debut album has arrived and it’s a good one. There were a few songs I was less keen on but overall, I think it’s a really strong debut.

No one is going to argue that this is a good film. But it’s fun and it’s the characters that guided us through the first one, and it’s just a quite enjoyable ride after a wine or two. It’s most fun to be able to pick holes in the entire thing, which probably isn’t what the makers were going for but is how it goes down best.

I just looked back through my reviews of the other Toy Story films, and the last two got five out of five scores… which is weird because I remember absolutely nothing about the second one, and the more distance I got from the third, the more I hated it. But thankfully, this fourth entry in the franchise was brilliant and genuinely deserves the top score. It made up for my feelings on the last one.

Many moons ago, I wrote about Duolingo, the language learning app that uses short lessons, goals and badges to encourage you to reach your targets. I’ve dipped in and out of that app over the years and for some reason, just recently, the obsession grabbed me once again. I downloaded the app and was impressed with some of the new content since the last time I looked at it. Not only are there the standard lessons – with each topic of the language broken up into a specific area where you can learn and gain skills via typing, speaking and listening – but now there are stories and audio lessons too.

It only took four weeks to get some Strictly Come controversy but I have to admit I was surprised by the bottom two and the subsequent decision by the judges. However, before we get there, here are some quick notes about the dances as they happened. Chris Ramsay went first, and I quite enjoyed the inside basketball included in the dance. It was good although I’m not totally sure I like the non-pointy-foot option. He is a funny one though, “let’s see that leaderboard!”

I was dreading this a bit, I didn’t think it would have aged well and might not work in this slightly more enlightened era we’re living in. But actually, aside from some early quibbles where they referred to Demi as the husband’s property, I didn’t think it was too bad. It really raises some interesting moral, relationship and ethical questions - would you, how much would you, how on earth would you recover?

I just wanted to write a couple of thoughts down in praise of the TV series State of the Union. It aired earlier in the year in the US, I believe, and has just been shown on the BBC and via iPlayer and I absolutely drank that show up. Written by novelist Nick Hornby, the show consists of ten episodes of only about ten minutes each dipping into the lives of a married couple seeking counselling for their union.

Initially I thought I hadn’t heard of Cast, but Mr C said they were the band of the 90s that it was cool to dislike. When I got through the album, though, I realised I did know a couple of the songs, and more than that, I liked it! Thankfully I know I’m not cool so it makes no difference if I like or dislike them.

I listened to Lady Wood by Tove Lo just a couple of weeks ago in preparation for this release, but that might not have been the smartest move. I really loved that one and I’m not totally convinced this one lived up to its predecessor. It’s good though, lots of good songs and some amazing guests. Glad He’s Gone is fantastic, though, the stand out song of the album. I think the rest of it is probably a bit of a grower, so I’m going to have to listen a few more times.

LOVED THIS. Loved, loved, loved it. From start to finish. Emma Thompson is a hero and Mindy Kaling’s writing just shines. The pair of them work well together and it’s a joy to watch their relationship gradually soften and warm. There are equality and diversity issues confronted throughout but it’s not simple in-your-face stuff. Even Thompson’s character is both a victim but also complicit in bias.

I’ve been a podcast listener for a long time and have talked often about them, from my evolving listening habits, to being a bit of a hoarder, and even picking out some of my favourites on occasion. Recently, I’ve been more obsessed with Beats 1 and streaming music and letting my podcast backlog creep up and up, but that has all changed. My podcast app of choice has previously been Downcast. It’s a sturdy product that collects and plays podcasts well, but it’s not perfect, and if I’m honest I had got into that slightly stale place where you just keep using an app even though it crashes quite a lot, because laziness is keeping you there.

This was a really good one. I’ve read the book but couldn’t remember anything about it so it was presented as a brand new thriller to me. Julia Roberts was excellent and I love Denzel so that was just a dream team of casting. The story is Grisham at his best, although I have to admit to get a bit confused with the sheer volume of bad guys and there were a handful of questions I had at the end that they tried to explain but I still didn’t quite get.

One of the things Apple is renowned for, and also vilified for, is their unified approach to technology. They make the software and they make the devices which helps to have a more seamless experience as a user (although not at the moment!) and now they’ve added content to their list as well. When I wrote the post about enjoying the new reading goals in association with Oprah’s book club moving to the Apple platform, I hadn’t realised quite what a crossover experience the team have created.

Hey, remember when I wrote about buying a Soda Stream to replace the endless bottles of sparkling water I was wasting? Well, I just had to change the gas canister and it got even more awesome. Firstly, that’s lasted just over three months, which is longer than I’d expected and has saved a really significant number of plastic bottles. Secondly, the replacement canister I bought was just a bit more than £20 so it’s also saved a significant amount of cash.

This week, I was not very well and had to watch Strictly without a glass of wine in hand which was a different experience. Although I was a bit delirious from the cold meds, so it probably added up to the same thing. It was movie week, of course, and full of drama during the week of build up and on the night itself. Craig and the teeth! Katya falling over many times! Dev covering everyone and everything in blue body paint!

In the latest iOS release, Apple have got a lot wrong. Many things that used to function now no longer do so, and everything is just that little bit more flaky. I’ve never restarted my devices quite so much as I have these past few weeks. However, one thing that I have enjoyed is the new reading goals. The Books app, or iBooks as I can’t help but keep calling it, was always a tangential thing for me. I love reading and books but Kindle was my app and store of choice. The Apple Books app, whilst making a really nice reading experience, didn’t do much in terms of promotion, finding material, or collecting your works once downloaded. Meanwhile, I’ve just spent a significant amount of time putting my books into Kindle collections on the iPad which was an easy process and makes for a nice digital bookshelf.

I absolutely adore this film. First of all, the dream pairing of Robin Williams and Nathan Lane is mind-blowing, and then when you layer on top of that they are playing a wonderful, if high-maintenance gay couple, you’ve got everything you need - the rest of the story is almost incidental. It feels like it’s ahead of its time but also does feel quite 90s in places. The things these people are wearing on the beach!

What I liked about it is that apart from getting her away from the guy when he was shooting at her in the beginning, she didn’t really need his help. She was the famous writer who got into the guy’s villa, she solved the puzzle of the map, she saved her sister, and she pushed the guy into the crocodiles whilst he was climbing up the wall. (It’s that kind of movie.) It’s a good job, too, because Michael Douglas doesn’t really stand up as the big action star. He’s no Tom Cruise.

Anna Chlumsky is brilliant from start to finish, she really grabs your attention with her hypochondria and bossiness and general excellent confidence that hides an underlying fear about death and the role she plays in her family. And with the rest of the cast doing an equally good job, there’s very little to complain about with this one. I didn’t know they had made a sequel and I’m curious to see how that one plays out!

I think I knew this wasn’t going to be our kind of film, but it’s an Oscar winner and it came in a bundle of others and we were spending an afternoon feeling unwell on the sofa so why not try and watch a long movie? Mmm. Far too violent. Switched off. Nothing else to add.

Just a quick update on my previous post about the launch of Apple Arcade. I listed five games that I played when they first came out but since then I’ve tried a couple more that are worth a mention. We also investigated the new ability to pair a Playstation controller to the Apple TV and play games on the big screen - which can make a big difference depending which game you’re playing.

Before listening to this one, there was a little debate over whether it counted in the album game. I have weird rules that bend and mutate over time, but the fact that this album contains a significant amount of previous songs was an issue. They’re live, so that’s different, and in the end I allowed it because this is clearly an album that they have worked and crafted as a piece of art.

I really liked this one. I hadn’t heard of Tegan & Sara before, which is my bad. For some reason, I thought they were country music artists but this isn’t that. It’s kind of hard to describe what it actually is. It’s sort of pop, but grown up, very finely crafted with brilliant lyrics.

It’s taken me a full year to get through this but not because it isn’t a good book, mostly because it’s the kind that you can pick up and put down, dip in and out of and just generally revel in the calm storytelling of a master. He’s got plenty to talk about and is honest about it all, looking back philosophically about the highs and lows of a life in country music.

It’s definitely just your traditional Disney TV movie, with the fade outs for the ads and everything, and to be honest, I’m not even sure it’s the best musical Disney thing I’ve seen - Camp Rock was probably more fun and inspiring. But still, this is the one that captured the world’s imagination, and it has Zac Efron in it to boot!

John Carney’s Dublin movies are really good, and I wonder it’s taken us this long to watch this one. The music is obviously fantastic, and it’s nice to see a different side to Dublin rather than the more glamorous and Guinness-soaked side. It was relaxing and chilling, and a nice story.

It has two things going for it. The first is that Christopher Reeve does a great job with this character. Although the whole disguise business is laughable, he really does do his best to distinguish between the two, and I think he’s really charming and funny at times. The other thing is that at least this time, the whole film was watchable (whereas the last one had a start and end that really ruined the much better middle). But it was so frustrating.

This film has been lurking in my library for a little while but for some reason has never come to the surface. That’s a surprise because I’ve read the book and quite liked it, and it has a mega cast in the film. Overall, I really liked it. The music is good and the story winds it’s way through the trauma of being a teenager anyway, on top of the specific problems this gang of friends are going through, or have been through.

When I go Strictly, I like to go all in and whilst I have drawn the line at listening to the podcast this year, I’m keen to keep up the It Takes Two habit. I only just managed to fit them all in with a couple of hours to spare before we set about watching week 2’s show, but it got done. And what did I make of week 2? Fun and fabulous, as always. Here are some notes I made along the way.

This film is not what I was expecting at all. My primary thought having seen it is - why on earth is this so popular? The music is good, the dancing incredible and those art pieces on stage are brilliant - like some fabulous music videos. But as a movie? It’s weird.

I’m behind the times on this, but I’m glad I waited to watch Aisling Bea’s new comedy This Way Up. I bought the entire series to binge on the Apple TV and got through it in super quick time - it was wonderful and heartbreaking and genuine and lovely and inspirational and sobering all in equal measure. The two areas it particularly shines in are the portrayal of struggling with mental health - Bea’s character Aine is recovering from a nervous breakdown and trying to deal with life in a very lonely London. It’s a difficult subject to talk about let alone make a comedy of, but the tone of every episode is perfect. The fact that Aine can whip smart her way out of any conversation, but seconds later when by herself, sinks to her knees in desperation - I don’t know if there’s anyone who couldn’t relate to that in some way.