Raven

I think the two main things I took away from reading The Hobbit is that it gets better as it goes along and Dwarves are dicks.

Don't know how many people have one, but Waterstone's are offering double points until the 17th for their Plus card members.

We used to do yearly "what films are you looking forward too?" threads, but I can see that's not happened for a while, so I'm starting one without a time limit! Operation Mincemeat Operation Mincemeat - Official Trailer - Warner Bros. UK & Ireland - YouTube Didn't know this was happening; it's a good (true) story so hopefully this will be a good telling of it!

It's probably simpler than that; the steam trains of 1897 didn't go as fast as the IEP trains do today.

The Orville Found this on Disney+ a few weeks back and have watched both series through. I must be getting older, or more picky (or both) or the quality of TV series must be dropping, because I'm finding it hard to find a series I can enjoy consistently these days. Take this show; it's basically a Star Trek: The Next Generation parody, but it is also trying to do series stuff at the same time, which gives mixed results. I enjoyed the first few episodes of season one more than I thought I would, but the second series wasn't as good, with episodes that basically elevated the "b" plots from Next Gen episodes to main story lines. The cast is good, the stories are well written, but there is no consistency and it feels like it is just missing a certain something that would take it to the next level. If you really like TNG, you will probably find parts of this entertaining, but it is basically Star Trek for people who don't like change (and the occasional knob joke). Star Trek: Lower Decks, which I have been enjoying, makes a better fist of parodying Star Trek.

As well as watching Black Widow, I caught up with the last episode of What If...? at the weekend. Cannot help thinking it should have been called Why Bother...? Only a couple of good stories all season, but apparently it's been renewed for another run. I am looking forward to seeing the Hawkeye series at the end of next month, though.

Black Widow If Marvel had made this film five years ago - when they should have - they might have gotten away with it, but following more recent MCU offerings this was a bit weak (it wasn't particularly well written and the action sequences weren't very convincing). It's a shame, Scarlett Johansson deserved better for what I am assuming will be her only solo effort.

Monday night quiz night on BBC 2; Mastermind followed by Only Connect and University Challenge. I was interested to find I know as much about Middle Earth as I do about Bond Villains.

Twitter is still up!

Sitting in the Dancing Man pub in Southampton drinking thier beers, waiting for a gap in the weather to get back to the station. It would be a shame if the rain finished too soon!

Without having counted, and including over 100 Kindle books I've purchased over the years, I suspect I have somewhere in the region of 200 to 300 books I have not read. I use a small angry terrier to keep them in check.

John Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie is 99p today, on - you guessed it - the Kindle.

Isn't Children of Dune the direct sequel to Dune? (Just wondering if I've got that wrong, or if they are skipping a book!)

Too many words, my slump won't let me finish!

Finished The Expanse, last night. The 5th season certainly upped the stakes, but at the same time it was oddly flat (a comment that can be levelled at the whole show, at times). I had a good look at the nominations listed for the show today and realised that they are mainly technical (special effects/sound editing etc) or for specific episodes, but it did win the Dragon award last year for best Science Fiction or Fantasy series and it gets very high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes (I'm not 100% sure why they are so high, I would rate the series at 3.5/4 out of 5 at best). There is at least one more series to come (Amazon are making he 6th, but no more, and the writers and production company making it are looking at how to continue after that) so I will have to see how it goes from here.

The Salt Path, by Raynor Winn is 99p on the Kindle today.

M&S is the shop, Charlotte is a type of potato, and these were small ones, hence the baby!

Never go out without checking: Weather Radar - Live UK Rainfall Radar | Netweather!

I've not seen it, yet, but don't the Astute class subs have some really wide corridors? I thought I saw that in a program about the class when they were first launched...

Thanks for that. I probably could have looked it up, but we are here to engage! (Slightly disappointed posh crisps are not involved...)

What is a sensation novel? (I've not come across the term before, but I'm assuming it doesn't have anything to do with posh crisps...)

Hurrah! It's been 'orrible and muggy walking to work for the past few days, and my flat has turned into an oven again so very little respite at night!

I thought about reading something today... (Just wanted to join in...)

I read it in 2011 (or so my blog tells me!) but I was on a hiatus from here when I did so I didn't talk about it at the time. I thought it was a good urban fantasy, but I felt Miéville had a habit of getting an idea, running with it for a bit and then discarding it for a new one. It was good, but I found the chopping and changing slightly vexing!

Inadvertently finished the fourth season of The Expanse last night (I thought it was 13 episodes like previous 3 seasons, but it turned out to be just the 10). I do like it, for the most part, but it feels like a show that is trying to punch above its weight.