We had to watch this due to my obsession with Sandy, but it looked like a good film from the trailer. Oddly, I hadn’t expected it to be quite so political as it was, which is really down to me being stupid, given the subject matter.

This book was slightly different to the more normal 87th Precinct series, taking the point of view of the criminal and sticking with it throughout the entire story. It was almost disconcerting that the regulars barely make any appearance in the book, with just a brief scene where we follow Carella into a restaurant, and a short interview conducted by Hawes (or Horse as it is misheard).

Whipped through this book in double-quick time, the story of our two favourite detectives (Carella and Hawes) investigating a brutal and gory murder committed by axe. I thought the story was fascinating, because it seemed such a horrendous murder from the outset but was the result of (minor spoiler alert) such a minor quarrel.

I really enjoyed this book, the second in the spin-off novels from the TV show Death in Paradise. It felt more relaxed than the first, more like the characters we’ve grown to know and love, and less repetitive, particularly in terms of the murder investigation. Rather than endlessly going over the clues, we revisit them just a couple of times throughout.

This podcast popped up out of nowhere but instantly became a regular part of my audio entertainment. It’s a simple concept - Anna invites over her Hollywood friends, has a bit of a chat with them, and then takes calls from listeners with relationship and other problems. Anna and the guest attempt to dispense advice, but make sure to point out they’re unqualified to do so.

I was nervous about listening to this but it’s about as accessible as heavy metal can be. I ended up quite enjoying it, although listening to all that angst in one go did make me anxious. The intensity and the harsh vocals can be a bit much but I still loved a few of the tracks along the way.

Good modern country – mentions both the moon and time machines, so I’m confident that he wrote it all with me in mind. Branches out occasionally with some ballads and some brass, but otherwise it’s a nice comfortable country album.

I love this video about some of the work the LEGO Master Builders get up to - how they come up with ideas, design their projects and build the finished articles. The best bit, of course, is the glimpse inside the warehouse of LEGO bricks - row upon row of baskets stacked full of bricks, organised and wonderful. The other thing this video brought to mind is that, whilst we live in a world where getting your dream job is more and more possible, there are still some jobs that still make you think “how on earth do you become one of those?”

I was expecting this to be some kind of disaster movie, given the title and the cover, but it turned out to be the first part in what could potentially be yet another young adult trilogy. I’ve not heard of it, nor read it, but it soon became clear that it was in the young adult genre, and the somewhat cliffhanger at the end was seriously annoying.

Given the promotion for this film, I knew what we were getting into but even so, the amount of self-awareness shown right from the start was incredible - and somewhat exhausting. It’s brilliant on so many levels, what with breaking the fourth wall, talking about the studio and their budgets, and referencing the actors that actually play the characters.

Couldn’t quite remember the first one initially, but it all soon came flooding back when Kevin Hart and Ice Cube started their bickering. I have, since the first film, realised I love Ice Cube so him and his grumpy antics throughout the film were very entertaining.

I’ve been wondering why I’ve felt quite tired recently, and then I realised. It’s because I’ve suddenly started focusing on my health and fitness again, ramping up the amount of exercise I actually do. Three years of concentrating on exams can have a detrimental effect on the time available for little things like: joining a gym, going for a walk, dancing around the kitchen, that kind of thing. That’s all done and dusted (for now at least!) so I’m focusing on fitness which, for me, begins with the Apple Watch and it’s pesky three-ring strategy. Stand goals are relatively easy, but it took a considerable effort to get Stand, Move and Exercise maxed out every day. First I did it for a week, then that turned into two weeks, and then I thought, can I? Could I possibly? Will I be able to keep this up for a whole calendar month?

I enjoyed watching the first week of the French Open at Roland Garros, but the second week has been a bit of a washout. These days it always feels a bit weird for me to watch men’s tennis because we get to view so much of the WTA via BT Sport’s brilliant almost-constant coverage. Having seen a few men’s games this past seven days, I’m convinced that we’ve got the good end of the deal. When I was younger I used to prefer the men’s game because I knew more of the players, plus it was faster and more interesting to me. Now I’ve completely changed my opinion and prefer the women’s tour - and here’s five reasons why.

Beauty and the Beast was never one of my favourite Disney films but with Emma Watson in the live action remake, I’m interested to see how it comes to the big screen. A teaser trailer was released this past week, with just a few glimpses of the lady in question, and no sign of the beast at all. I’m a bit concerned that this teaser doesn’t really do much to make it look live action, up until you see Emma’s lovely face. Until then, it could just as easily be the cartoon in slightly sharper detail. Hopefully future trailers will offer up a little more because even though I said it wasn’t my favourite, I’m still secretly a little excited for it.

Top Gear returned on Sunday, with the first episode presented by the new line-up airing over the bank holiday weekend. I’ve been waiting with anticipation for this moment, along with the debut of the Clarkson/May/Hammond Amazon adventure as well. Top Gear in its previous guise was brilliant but it was never quite clear if it was the format of the show that made it great (gorgeous HD photography, fun stunts alongside interesting but not so useful car reviews) or the personalities and relationship between the three hosts. Jeremy Clarkson’s angry outburst has given us the exact situation where we can find out.

Love the rhythms here. Subject matter can veer too far for me, I couldn’t listen to Kim the second time round. But then again, Stan is an absolute classic so it’s swings and roundabouts.

Very catchy pop, high production values, but not totally special. Influences of Beiber and even occasionally Taylor Swift. Enjoyable enough to listen to, with plenty of good songs, but not all that memorable.

It’s always a lot of fun when artists cover other artists, and that is never more true than when it’s a Backstreet Boys tune on display. The superbly fun Florida Georgia Line took on that challenge with an impromptu cover of ‘Everybody’ and they did it pretty well, I think! If anyone else leaves BSB, there could be a spot open for one of these two. Although, I have to admit, my one takeaway from this video is to ask what device is it being filmed with? It’s a brilliantly clear image! Love it.

The weather is getting more and more unpredictable, so when the sun is shining and the skies are blue, you have to make the most of it.

I love this video promoting the US version of Red Nose Day. So many celebrities, most of whom are favourites, and only a couple of whom I don’t actually recognise. It’s an amusing message, of course, but I have to admit the best bit is the bonus appearance of Ana Lucia - who appears to be on a film set and in a completely different context to everyone else. Weird.

A recent episode of Note to Self highlighted a really interesting concept that they’re unfortunately calling the ‘Lonely Web.’ The idea is that for all the popular social media posts that get hundreds of views every day, there are those that don’t get any visits at all. It’s an interesting listen, if a little hamfisted at times - you sort of get the feeling that it’s not a huge issue, particularly as not everyone is out there to be famous, and there’s an awkward moment at the beginning where Manoush only just manages to remember there’s a world outside of America. Nevertheless, it’s a thought-provoking podcast with great production values.

A new trailer for the third installment of the Star Trek reboot was released recently and it looks quite a lot like the previous two! This time, however, it’s co-written by Simon Pegg and directed by Justin Lin, who played a big part in getting me hooked on the Fast and Furious franchise (something I’m still not totally over!)

This was an interesting concept for a story - a girl narrowly escapes being the victim of a serial killer and spends some time trying to rebuild her life, only to find that he’s still after her. It has all the elements that should make a thrilling read, but I have to say, the actual murderer didn’t quite have me convinced.

It’s not every day you open up the app store on your phone to discover that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has released an alarm clock app to help you wake up and set your goals. Turns out that was a really good day. The Rock Clock does exactly what it says on the tin, it’s an alarm clock which pushes you to reach a specific goal (ie. wake up early, or write that screenplay), and the alarm sounds feature the Rock’s beautiful voice giving encouragement.

A short novella in the Jessica Daniel series, this story brings back the side character who has appeared only occasionally in the main novels - Hugo the magician. I feel like the author enjoys this character far more than I do, but with that aside, it is always interesting to see how the aspects of magic relate to crime - ie. deception, distraction, and all that goes with the art of sleight of hand.

I properly loved this album, so much that I listened to it twice straight through, and was then humming Fast Car for the rest of the week. Brilliant, lyrical, moving. I love it, although it did open my eyes to why some people aren’t such fans of Boyzone. Oof.

I liked this far more than I expected. It was the perfect mix of pop and RnB – a lot of it reminded me of the RnB from the 90s, which is my era of music. I also really enjoyed the bonus Macy Gray!

I really love this music video for Sweet Lovin’ by Sigala. The song itself is your standard dance number, but the video takes it a step further with roller skates that issue smoke from the back. I want some! What is really fab about the whole thing is when more skaters join the fun towards the end of the video, creating a sort of roller skating version of the Red Arrows. This must have been a lot of fun to film.

I’ve read this before, a long time ago, and it was interesting dipping into it again. I remembered it as I do so many of Harris’ books - full of warmth and sumptuous descriptions, moving passages with vivid images, and of course, plenty of food. What I hadn’t quite expected, and this is foolish, of course, is just how much chocolate there is.

I’ve had to skip a few of the 87th Precinct series because the books aren’t available in a Kindle version, but that’s not too much of an issue as time moves slowly in these novels. All the main characters are there, but most are only referenced as this one revolves around Carella and Meyer dealing with a particularly tricky case.

The second book of an epic Follett trilogy, Winter of the World encompasses the build up and events of World War Two plus the horrifying end and aftermath of the fighting. I feel like this book didn’t quite have the same impact as the first, but that was mostly down to how much ground it had to cover.

This entry in the Jessica Daniel series is slightly different from the others which makes it a refreshing break from the slightly more formulaic crime series drama. Jess is dealing with a lot of emotions and working through grief from several different traumas, and uses her situation to infiltrate a cult and find out what sinister secrets they have.

Good album, great guitars and interesting lyrics. Confident I was missing important song meanings but I liked it anyway. Only concern is the singles stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Some good bits here and there, very well produced, but ultimately I just found it quite boring. It was a slog to get through it a second time.

I’ve been vaguely aware of Kurt Wallander’s morose tales, seen promotional shots of the TV show but never actually read or watched anything yet. I quite enjoyed the story, if you can enjoy such a horrific crime being investigated by such a depressing character.

One of Ken Follett’s epic sprawling saga’s begins with many different characters and families dealing with the descent into the First World War, the horrifying action itself, and the beginnings of the aftermath. I really enjoyed the soap opera style drama, who is in love with who, and how they twist in and out of each other’s lives.

Really enjoyed this album, so very indulgently eighties. Fine balance between guitar rock and country music, but great songs, catchy melodies, and some anthems you can roar.

An odd album, with a hugely eclectic mix of songs from pure R&B Destiny’s Child style to the more lilting Hawaiian guitar ballad. Quite fun, and lots of positive messages, but there’s no flow making it a jarring and jittery experience.

I know of this for being an important and influential work but I never had to read it at school and so it sort of passed me by. Having now read it, I can see why it’s gained such status, but I can’t say I particularly enjoyed reading it. It’s such a sad story, a depressing start to life followed by an even worse adulthood!

We haven’t really been in the mood for films recently, but after a long day it was time for something a little mindless and a lot funny. That perfectly describes this film, it really doesn’t take much brainpower to keep up, it’s not particularly long, and it’s not particularly clever. But in places, it is extremely funny.

The second memoir from Michael J Fox focuses on his post-acting career and his efforts to create and sustain a foundation hunting for a cure for the Parkinson’s disease that afflicts him. I found this book marginally less interesting than the first, because politics and political wranglings are not my cup of tea, but it was still fascinating to read just how much work goes into something like running your own foundation.

Incredible voice, relaxed sound with important messages. Slightly odd transitions between songs, but otherwise a really nice listen.

Just as with Coldplay’s album, this one was a lot more positive than previous editions – but thankfully it wasn’t over the top with cheeriness. I have loved Travis in the past so it was lovely to hear them again.

Having accidentally read the second book in this series before the first, I was keen to see where it all began. It only took a few minutes for the characters to come flooding back, although the situation was quite different in this first outing. Naturally, they are coming together, getting to know each other, having their first adventure, and it’s fascinating to see how it began.

Love this. I’ve always had a soft spot for Chrissie Hynde, probably starting when she appeared on Friends. Really good album, bouncy and foot-tapping rock with fabulous vocals.

Just beautiful, with that lovely Nordic sweeping feel to things. You can just picture the music over a beautiful fjord or Icelandic landscape scene. Great as background music or for weekend relaxation.

I pick and choose my way through Desert Island Discs, but the wonderful thing about it is the timeless nature of all the interviews. The BBC have made the full archive available indefinitely, so you can listen to anyone at any time. I subscribe to the podcast, but often don’t get around to listening until well after the interviews have been aired. I just recently listened to Dame Judi Dench’s show, and fell even more in love with her than I already was. Rather than joyously recounting stories for each of the brilliant songs on the list, Dame Judi gradually comes to the realisation that all her songs are actually quite depressing. It’s really fun to hear, as each track passes by, Judi’s reaction that she maybe should have taken a look at the eight songs as a whole.

It feels like a short album, just nine songs, but every single one is perfect. The BFF relationship with Paul McCartney boggles my mind a bit, but Thriller makes up for everyone and everything. Could be one of the best songs ever, I reckon.

It felt like an incredibly long wait, but finally, a couple of weeks ago, I got to see the new Star Wars film. Actually, it emerged onto my chosen digital media platform about four months after it graced the cinema screens, so whilst it felt like the anticipation went on forever, that window is thankfully getting smaller. I managed to avoid all but the most obvious spoilers - and for the most part they were things that only made sense after you’d seen the film anyway. (There are no spoilers in this post, btw.)

Really good album, even better on the second time around. Bit over the top in terms of adult content in places, it does feel like she’s still trying to shed the Disney image. But otherwise good, catchy, upbeat and modern songs.