Recently updated blogs

History book prizes divide opinion - how can you ever fairly decide on a 'best' book? What does best even mean? And how come my book didn't win? Personally I like them. Even trying to keep tabs on all new books as I do, the prize shortlists always throw up a bunch I have missed, which I am confident will meet a minimum level of quality. The purpose of this …

Here’s a question for you. What do Oltréé, The Plum Island Horror, The Struggle for Zorn, Earthborne Rangers, Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies, Striking Flint, The Mandalorian: Adventures, Mass Effect: The Board Game: Priority: Hagalaz: Subtitle, and The Lucky Seven all have in common? That’s right: they’re all solitaire or cooperative games from the past year that I broadly enjoyed that are too easy to win. Time and time again, I …

Well this game certainly took me by surprise, as it’s one of the best games I’ve played this year so far! Bakeru is set in an alternate version of Japan, where fairy tale heroes are real. You play as Bakeru, a shape-shifting tanuki who attacks enemies with taiko drumsticks in his human form. You’ll travel […]

La semaine prochaine, nous fêtons les 35 ans de la sortie de Prince of Persia, en 1989. Les fans de PoP ont beaucoup à fêter, cette année : deux tout nouveaux jeux (The Lost Crown et The Rogue Prince of Persia), le remake des Sables du temps qui a été confirmé et arrivera en 2026, ainsi qu'un nouveau DLC pour The Lost Crown, sorti la semaine dernière. Aujourd'hui, j'aimerais partager …

My latest post on Now Smell This is a review of Editions de Parfums Heaven Can Wait and Arquiste Parfumeur Venice Rococo. You can read it here.

I’ve always been a Richard Rutter fanboy, so seeing my CSS reset cited in their new reset fills me with pride. When it comes to web typography, Richard knows more than most and shares this vast knowledge really well with TODS. There’s a near 100% guarantee (unless you’re actually Richard) that you will learn at least one new thing about OpenType features, especially, by reading this article. This is an …

I’ve found myself in possession of a guitar. Actually, the guitar that I had in middle school has come back to me after a decade’s long jaunt with someone else. I don’t really play guitar, but, I figured I should restring it and tune it. I’m really very bad at tuning, so, rather than get good at that, or use any of the existing tools within reach of the internet …

Someone brilliantly replied to my latest "Same Team" post:Resonate with the idea of "us, as a team, vs. 'the problem'", whatever that may be. Also a core part of our relationship.One of the best parts of a relationship is learning more about ourselves and our own limitations. Coming to it with curiosity. Why does the other person come off as not caring or being sensitive enough? What does that say …

Ironically, I watched this a bit into starting a new job… Mike (John Moulder-Brown) is a teenage Londoner who’s chosen to enter the working world instead of continuing on with school. There’s not a heck of a lot he can do, so he ends up as a locker room attendant at a public bathhouse, tidying up the mens’ private changing rooms between visitors and generally doing small jobs. His bored …

By now it’s fairly likely you have either heard about or updated to iOS 18 on iPhone or iPadOS 18 on iPad, and you might be wondering about some of the new features. While there are some major new features along with many small changes and mini features here and there, there are a handful ... Read More

Luce Luce is like a plain girl whose face suddenly transforms when she smiles. Full of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that shuffle so quietly underneath its sweet, minty beeswax skin that you’d be forgiven for writing it off as an amber, this is a scent that rewards close study. My first impression is of sugared aniseed and vinyl set against a dark green backdrop of fir trees, underscored with a touch of …

White sand beaches, turquoise waters, otherworldly rock formations, this is the Cíes Islands. This little slice of paradise is found in Galicia Spain. The Cíes Island archipelago consists of three islands: Monte Agudo (Norte), O Faro (del Medio), and San Martiño (Sur). The islands work as a somewhat natural barrier to protect the Vigo Estuary...

This is the third novel in Alison Weir’s Tudor Rose trilogy, following Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose and Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown. You definitely don’t need to have read the previous two books before starting this one, although if you’re not very familiar with Tudor history it would probably be helpful to read them in order. The novel begins in 1525, introducing us to nine-year-old …

Waiting for dinner Cote d’Azur, 2010. Quote of the Day ”The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. “ Bertrand Russell Thanks to John Seeley for spotting it. Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news Kathleen Ferrier (Contralto) | What is life? | Orfeo ed Euridice | Gluck Link This is a remastering of a 1946 recording of Gluck’s Orpheo that stopped me …

5/5 golden merles Variety’s “Plover” is Texan avantpop rock composed of compelling narrative subversion, sticky melody and tone. The hook is a compacted material derived from descriptions of naturalistic imagery, the conflict of the domesticated and undomesticated in comparison to the authors interpersonal dilemmas. It’s thoughtful and pretty dang fun. I need my streams and mountains tempered by the grim specter of death. Gluck and Johnson, Bly and Ruefle. Some …