Month: December 2017

  • Programmes I Know I Should Have Seen But Haven’t – Stuck in Draft #6

    Here’s a slightly enlarged piece I wrote back in 2015 or so, but never got around to finishing. So I’ve had a bit more of a bash at it, but still feel it makes the grade as part of my Stuck in Draft series. In David Lodge’s Changing Places, the English faculty play a game…

  • 11 Reasons I Hate Listicles – Stuck in Draft #5

    Here’s a short piece I wrote years ago. Published here as part of my Stuck in Draft series. First things first – I’m not even sure that “listicles” is a real word. However I expect it pop up in the OED in due course because so much “journalism” is today being built around lists. So…

  • Wicken Fen: A Cycle Ride from Ely to Cambridge – Stuck in Draft #4

    Here’s a cycle ride I took in April 2016. I think the winter and spring months are quite a nice time to do this ride. It’s not especially demanding and is easy to reach from London with direct trains from King’s Cross. Another in my series, Stuck in Draft. Reading Rain recently, I realised that…

  • Google and Podcasts – Stuck in Draft #3

    This is another of my Stuck in Drafts series – where I dig into things I had largely written months or even years ago – and get around to publishing them. This one is a little unusual in that it was penned back in April 2016, and I’ve left it alone. However, I’ve added some…

  • The Olympics: Celebrating Success or Jingoism? – Stuck in Draft #2

    I wrote this over a year ago, and never quite got around to publishing it. Hence it now forms part of my Stuck in Draft series. And so another Olympics have concluded and from where I sit it has been a success. Let me clarify that a little. Team GB has undoubtedly been successful. But…

  • Waves

    Waves from Adam Bowie on Vimeo. Shot with my Pixel 2 earlier today as high winds and rain battered the coast.

  • Blade Runner 2049

    Note: There will be spoiler elements to this. So if you’ve not yet seen Blade Runner 2049, and you plan on doing so, you may want to skip this piece. I’ve been meaning to write about this for weeks now, having been both dreading and eagerly anticipating this film since I heard it was being…

  • A Shopping Failure – Stuck in Drafts #1

    Note: This was written several months ago, but for some reason I never published it at the time. Hence the “Stuck in Drafts” label. I recently visited The Cycle Show at the Birmingham. It was an entertaining – if slightly tiring day. Obviously it’s a bit of a trek from my part of North London,…

  • Stuck in Draft

    If you follow this blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that my publishing can be a bit hit and miss. Certainly there’ll be something about UK radio ratings at least four times a year (RAJAR), and there’ll be some annotated Radio Times – especially at Christmas. But otherwise, it’s as and when I feel…

  • Faster, Faster, Faster!

    There was a Buzzfeed piece recently, exploring those people who listen to podcasts at super-fast speed. I don’t just mean 1.2x or something, but some of them listen at 3x speed or even faster. Elsewhere, a Guardian writer thanked Netflix for allowing him to skip all the intros to TV series and the ability to…

  • Radio Times: Boxing Day TV

    The last of these annotated Radio Times “guides” for this Christmas. By now, everyone is a tiny bit fed up with one another. Walks are being talked about, and others are busily trying to hoover up bargains online. And everyone generally feels sorry for Next employees who are forced to be there in time to…

  • Radio Times: Christmas Day TV

    Happy Christmas! Thanks to the regular readers of this blog, and anyone who visits at this time of year, just because they’re desperate to find something to watch on TV. I mean, what were you going to do otherwise? Watch that dodgy sounding Will Smith film on Netflix? Binge watch The Crown? Argue over whether…