If I’m honest, I never had any intention of reading this. It’s not so much that I was judgemental about the whole thing but I vividly remember when this trilogy first came out and people were excited about them but when pressed had to admit that they weren’t written very well and that the story wasn’t the best. So I could never understand what all the fuss is about. I decided to bite the bullet, you know, eight years later, after watching Book Club which revolved quite a lot around this first book. In the end, I’m missing out on some culture so I need to get on board.

Not really a fan of this one, I have to admit. I did think going into it that it was going to be kinda arty and maybe a bit hard-going but it surpassed my expectations. First, the good: I quite liked how quirky the script was. Weird sentences and funny moments. Not sure it came to any kind of satisfying conclusion but then again I don’t actually know what a satisfying conclusion would have been. Just disappointing that no one ended up happy.

So, my goodness. This is a flawed but very, very fun film. I’ll be honest and admit that at about 18 minutes we were very much considering the twenty minute rule. But it gradually got better and better and I got more and more invested. It’s an odd cast, some very talented people but do they all fit together? I don’t know. And my word, the accents. If it wasn’t for people missing their accents all the time, this would for sure be a five star film.

My obsession with time travel leads me to unexpected cultural output sometimes, and this book took me by surprise. It’s a full on action adventure, full of omg they’re changing the time lines drama, and oof this person could blink out of existence at any moment tension. I’ll admit, the finer details did get a bit clunky and confusing for me - a lot of people in the same place at the same time, and the extended family with an extensive history was a lot to take in.

This is one of those deliciously short but beautiful works, translated from French to English and losing nothing in the process. It tells the story of a simple guy who goes to work, looks after his friends, feeds his fish, and dreams of books. He also salvages single pages from the pulping machine he works with, and reads them aloud on the train to work.

Criado Perez does an incredible job of highlighting a wide variety of issues that I would never have thought of, and delves into what research has and hasn’t been done on the impact these problems have. But what I like most is that Perez really takes a good stance on this – obviously the fight for equality does have its enemies, but the issues we’re talking about here very rarely are done maliciously. It’s just that the data isn’t there, and everyone, women included, has been societally trained to consider the male form default.

The best kind of podcasts are those that have a simple premise that can run and run. Encyclopedia Womannica is exactly one of those. Hoping to give some attention to those women from history that have either been overlooked completely or have not had the attention they should have had. Over the course of a year, the hosts aim to feature the profile of a historical icon, as the podcast blurb explains:

So, this was probably my second favourite Marvel movie after Black Panther. It was good and inspirational and nice and the music was incredible. I wish all movies were set in the 90s because omg those songs. On the one hand, Carol Danvers is an incredible hero. Your normal but awesome fighter pilot military woman who then gets next level powers to defend the universe from the big bad.

The Killers rocked their headline set at Glastonbury, so it was an easy pick to listen to one of their albums this week. And boy what an album. This has that amazing thing where there are multiple amazing songs next to each other and I just can’t believe that such greatness exists (tracks 2-5 obviously). But the whole thing works and stands the test of time.

Went into this with a little bit of trepidation but actually really loved it. Naturally, being based around Stranger Things its heavily influenced by the eighties but I dug that. I think apart from the song Christmas Lights, you wouldn’t necessarily know this was based on the TV show, but whether you do or not, it’s a great collection of fun and slightly emotional pop.

Beautiful Lulworth Cove with blue skies and turquoise seas, and a horrid pebble beach. Best to stay on the cliff-tops.

So look, we may not have been exactly in the right frame of mind to start watching another film - it was late, we had been drinking. But this was so not good. I love Baz Luhrmann’s work, so arty, so well-crafted, so fitting with strong music that gives you a sensory overload sort of vibe and really sucks you in.

Weirdly, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I liked the first one, and it’s Paul Rudd for crying out loud, but I just felt a bit meh about it. Thankfully, the movie was really good. Funny, emotional in places, and with a good story that makes sense. There was that usual bit of ‘what the hell is going on I don’t remember any Marvel movies I’m going to have to watch all of them again’ thing which was kinda annoying, but once past that, it was great.

I’ve recently started catching up on podcasts again, and this time I’ve discovered Rene Ritchie’s Vector. It’s officially a YouTube show, covering the latest news and insights into the world of Apple and technology, but there’s also an audio-only podcast which is my preferred method. As I’m a little behind, I was listening to the shows released around WWDC, and this episode about the new tvOS caught my attention. Specifically this bit towards the very beginning:

When I was a kid, I’d go to my grandparent’s house and as a special treat, you could make a drink with their SodaStream. It was kept out in a utility room or conservatory because it was a noisy machine, putting carbonation into the beverage of your choice. The only things I particularly remember about the experience is that it was a) a lot of fun and something to look forward to and b) resulted in some pretty rubbish colas and lemonades that didn’t live up to the hype.

Having seen the girls do the bizzo at Wembley, it was only natural to listen to their second album. I’ve already logged the first, and that one is a classic in my book. This second one I don’t think lives quite up to the standard of the first but somehow it’s also not really trying to.

I really liked the last Bruce album I listened to and although I knew this one was going to be kinda different, I still had hopes it would work out. Ultimately, it wasn’t my favourite. It’s just a bit boring, really, nothing stood out particularly and a couple of the songs were annoying (the miracle one, and the one where he seems to just list many ailments).

Good film, this one. I was expecting good things, what with the Rock teaming up with Stephen Merchant but it delivered. I had heard them discussing it on various promotional opportunities and they often said that you didn’t need to know anything about wrestling to enjoy the film, which I think is true and I was grateful for.

Naturally, I know all the words to all the songs off by heart which makes them super fun to listen and sing along to. It’s a bit of a difficult one to score because I’m so close to this album that it is naturally a five, but really, objectively, there are some less-than-stellar songs on there.

The last album from Bastille was alright, but it annoyed me the volume of talky bits, radio excerpts, that kind of thing. I’m sure it was arty and important but it didn’t make for much fun listening. This one, thankfully is free of those things, and I actually really enjoyed it.

If you’re ever reviewing your finances, it’s easy to look at the bigger picture: current accounts, savings, mortgages. But as the saying goes, it’s useful to look after those pennies as well because they can start to add up to more meaningful numbers. The Pennies app helps you do just that, with a super simple and clean interface that sets up a budget and tries to ensure you stick to it.

Feeling a little the worse for wear from our weekend at two music concerts, we decided the ideal remedy was to head to the Edgbaston Priory Club for a spot of tennis. It’s the second year in a row we’ve attended the event, and was just as good this time round. There’s a nice relaxed feeling at Edgbaston, in fact when you walk in it feels more like a summer fete, with lots of kids with racquets running around and the smells of barbecue wafting in the air.

My write up of our outing to see the Spice Girls at Wembley mentions the fact that I had previously not been a concert-going person. I had practically no experience of seeing music live and in person, but that was all set to change that year. My realisation that I could now probably cope with it all coincided nicely with the Backstreet Boys going on their huge DNA World Tour. To celebrate (and encourage) me going, we decided to go VIP and make a nice big deal of my first proper concert experience.

The Spice Girls recently wrapped up a short UK reunion tour with three dates at Wembley Stadium and I was at the middle one. It turns out that Mr C saw them live way back when and when he got his hands on tickets for the Spice World 2019 Tour, he somehow convinced me to go with him. Now I’ve previously not been a concert-going person. I’ve been to one small gig that barely counts, and I’ve abandoned a comedian halfway through their arena set because I was not enjoying the concept at all. So a hugely popular reunion tour full of excitable fans, at Wembley stadium no less, seemed like the perfect event to change things.

Obviously I knew the main plot points and how it all unravelled but it was still really fascinating to see how they worked through it on the screen. It worked pretty well. I wonder if I wouldn’t have struggled a little to start with, it felt quite confusing despite me already knowing the plot, but it soon settled down into a good unpredictable thriller.

I was kind of just enjoying this film as a 90s comedy movie where Joe Pesci does what he does. But as it wore on and Marisa Tomei got more and more awesome, I really fell in love with it. A good courtroom fight is always fun, and this had twists and turns along the way. But Marisa won the day and did so in great style.

Let the games begin!

Union Jack dress count so far is six and rising.

Mr C needed a friend to see the Spice Girls with him so here I am!

I’d sort of only heard of Open Farm Sunday from when I used to listen to The Archers. But finally I have tracked one down and attended. Cute animals, robotic milking machines, a walk through the fields. What’s not to like?

I wasn’t really aware of Five for Fighting before, although it turns out that I know the Superman song from the Axis of Awesome multi-song extravaganza. Also, as it turns out, that ruined that song for me because it’s impossible not to sing ‘I’m a birdplane’ in the relevant places.

I kinda missed the Jonas Brothers thing first time round, so I wasn’t as hyped up by their big return as I know many people were. Having said that, though, I really liked this album. I had some concerns because I was disappointed by the DNCE album after enjoying the singles. This time, it wasn’t a disappointment.

My parents recommended a visit to the Purton Ship Graveyard, where boats go to die. It’s an area of river-side fronting on the River Severn, with a canal not so far inland. The land was eroding too much and so to protect the canal, boats were deliberately brought in and abandoned on the shore. According to the Friends of Purton, there are 96 boats scattered along the riverbank. It’s bizarre, incongruous but ultimately quite beautiful.

You’d probably have to have been living under a rock to have missed that there was a docu-drama programme telling the story of the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor disaster and what happened afterwards. It has been very well received and widely considered one of the best things on TV so far. I’m not going to add too much to the overwhelming level of support this TV series has got, because I too thought it was incredible. It’s grim viewing, and you can’t really say you enjoyed it after seeing the whole thing, but there’s something about it that grabs you and won’t let you go. The acting is incredible, the visuals astounding and the story is something else.

Two recent conversations about movies have made me realise there’s a key component of the digital rental process that is missing and would make life so much better. At the moment, on Apple in particular, you can buy a film for a high price initially that drops the longer a film has been in the world. Or you can rent a film for a slightly lower price but only keep it for a certain amount of time.

I was expecting this one to be your standard fluffy rom-com style movie, but it had more layers and more humour to it than I was expecting. Firstly, of course, it’s inspirational - be who you want to be, lying might get your far but it won’t be easy to live with, and that you can make a success of your life with or without a college degree, even if it doesn’t quite go to plan.

I was nervous about watching this film because I vividly remember the first one being overwhelming and exhausting. It’s the bright colours teamed with the volume of references (both audio and visual). This film carries on in much the same vain and was equally exhausting. It’s good, though, don’t get me wrong. The voice acting is fabulous, the meta references are wonderful and there is underneath it all a really good and sort of heartwarming story about family.

Every year, Mr C and I sit down and watch the Apple Design awards. Every year we download several of the apps that we’ve missed over the months. And every single year, Mr C says: “They should do more with the design awards, a podcast, a TV show. You should blog it.” I was confident I already had, and looking through the archives proves me right, but I can’t quite believe it was four years ago.

So, Mr C and I have a history of arguing about Richard Marx - I’m on the record as forecasting that his song Hazard will be the one and only reason we ever get divorced. However, that’s not on this album so I can have no complaints. And I actually have no complaints anyway, I really enjoyed it. Nice, proper eighties pop rock, good tunes. I had only heard of Right Here Waiting before listening to this, and that was a highlight, but I think the whole album stacks up.

Technically, I choose the albums for the current year but actually this one came from Mr C. Apple Music updated their recommendation pages and this album just popped up out of nowhere. He listened and said it was worth a go, and with no other more pressing albums being released this week, I opted to give it a go. I’m glad I did, it was a highlight of the year so far! The album is relaxed, reminiscent of The XX and Of Monsters and Men, and just guides you simply from start to finish through some really good songs, great melodies and warm feelings.

I’ve been watching Apple WWDC keynotes for a few years now, and they’re often quite interesting with bits and pieces that make a difference to me and how I use my devices. This year seemed different – perhaps because I made strides towards learning Swift and being a developer myself, but perhaps also because they announced such a lot of things. I was hooked, and afterwards my brain was buzzing.

This was a surprise. The trailer made it look totally watchable but in reality, it was brilliant! The main four cast are obviously fantastic, and they seem to have a good chemistry which is a good start to making a film like this work. Throw in a rather attractive pilot in Andy Garcia as well as some other likeable significant others and you’ve got all you need.

I was a bit nervous about this one, anything that’s a bit punky or aggressive represents a challenge for me. But I actually liked it. I think I maybe didn’t take it in as much as I should have so this is one I will listen to again in future just to make sure.

This isn’t an album I was particularly excited about listening to but I have liked Khalid’s work previously so a new record is always going to be appreciated. This one was good, some fine songs, but it’s all just a bit too relaxed. I don’t know if there is such a thing as being too chilled but if there is, then this album is the epitome of it.

The opening sequence on the beach is harrowing, mind-blowing, intense, a sensory overload that really brings to life the horrors of war in a way that no other film has managed to do so. (For me, so far.) Once that’s through, there’s still two hours of horror, war, tension, needless death, moral questions but also camaraderie, bravery, dark humour, and really some astonishing scenes.

I suspect I have talked before at length about how fun I find the Apple Watch activity badges, and how they encourage me to keep moving. Recently I’ve been less obsessed with them, getting on with my own plans and seeing what badges fall my way without forcing it. However, this month, something weird happened and I wanted to get the monthly badge so desperately despite the odds being significantly against me. It was a calorie count achievement, and it seemed quite tricky but I was making good progress. Then I had a bad few days and figured I probably wasn’t going to get the badge after all. Except on the final day of the month, it was tantalisingly close.

I was a bit nervous about this one, anything that’s a bit punky or aggressive represents a challenge for me. But I actually liked it. I think I maybe didn’t take it in as much as I should have so this is one I will listen to again in future just to make sure.

So on to the album itself, it was quite reminiscent of her older stuff, a nice gentle re-introduction to R&B. But on the flip side, it didn’t really move forward much and wasn’t all that memorable. Nice to listen to and some of the songs had strong uplifting sentiments but I’m not sure I’d seek this out again in future.

These movies are so good because they’re like James Bond but without all the other crap that goes along with being Bond. Fun locations, spy games, lots of action and the occasional bit of humour. But no misogyny, no having to bother about the politics, and not a whole lot of talking really.