The Scribble.co.uk

Commuting and Podcasts

2019-08-13T14:31:00.000+01:00

I used to have a minimum 90 minute commute for work. This was sheer bliss. As a new parent at the time it was a brief escape of shitty nappies, watching paw patrol, not quite being at work.

It's my time and I can listen to a podcast in peace.

I love podcasts, they require more concentration than listening to music, can be informative, funny and great conversation pieces. Get stuck in traffic and that’s more podcast time. I listen to about 20 podcasts over the course of the week. They range from tech deep dives to light hearted comedy to lifestyle. Here is my personal top 5 podcasts and a few special mentions

1: The Ground Up Show - Matt D’Avella (lifestyle)
2: The Minimalists - Josh + Ryan (lifestyle)
3: Smegheads: The Red Dwarf Podcast - Jed + Daniella (comedy/tv show)
4: Couples Therapy - Casey and Candice Neistat (insights/comedy)
5: The New Screensavers - Leo Laporte TWIT network. (technews)

I genuinely look forward to this long form content. Unlike Youtube (more on that one day) its something to really get engrossed in and absorb. Best of all, they are nearly free and all it costs is you listening to a few ads in most cases. I use the Pocket Casts App for its cross platform synchronisation (android/ios/desktop) and straight forward interface. It requires a little set up (such as what you want to download automatically, queuing etc) and remains my go to app.

I’ve recently started to listen to the Fully Charged Show hosted by Robert Llewellyn (Kryten from Red Dwarf) and Johnny Smith (Spikey one from Fifth Gear). It focuses on the rising range of electric vehicles and the changes they bring. The humour is very much my sort of thing being dry wit and bit of childishness and the opinions presented are subjective, informed and realistic, which I think is key given the subject matter. It is genuinely interesting to see the progress of electric cars in the past few years. It is also eye opening to see that Tesla are not the be all and end all of electric cars.

The other podcast I have started listening to is a David Tennant Does a Podcast With…….

1 episode in and it instantly reminds me of the Graham Norton Show. Host and guest perfectly relaxed talking about anything and everything. Be warned though, this one is not to be played in the car. With the liberal use of the word Cunt and a discussion about Emma Stone fingering from the off, it's a definite plus from me and I found myself genuinely laughing out loud and nearly crashing my car whilst listening.

Tennant comes across as a natural host and adds on to guest Olivia ‘Collie’ Colemans (yes that’s her nickname) points without derailing the show. I look forward to this new series and hope its continued for a long time. Highly recommended and I look forward to the coming episodes.

What are your favourite podcasts? please comment below with any ideas and feedback for me.

Movie Reviews: Tag and Bumblebee

2019-02-01T20:19:00.000+00:00

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, Ed Helms, Isla Fisher

Tag is a curious movie, based on a real life group of friends from Washington, known for playing a month long game of Tag every February for the last 28 years. The casting is genius. The comedy is brilliant without being modern day american slapstick in the style of a Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler movie. The movie also has some genuinely tender moments.

The basis is that Jerry (Jeremy Renner) has never been tagged in the 28 years they have played the game. At his wedding weekend the gang plan on tagging him. Special shout out to Ed Helms for a genuinely brilliant performance and can we please get Jeremy Renner doing more comedy.

Adam Rating: 15/20

Bumbleebee

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Peter Cullen

The Transformers movies 1-5 (1+3 are decent, set fire to the rest) are of at best average quality. Fabulous action sequences and effects are marred by sub par acting, poor story lines and questionable content.

Bumblebee is none of those things.

Created by a new team and serving as a reboot for the series, it has a completely different feel to the previous movies. The film is set in the 80’s and if are a fan of the original there is a lot here for you. For newcomers this film catches the feel of 80’s Spielberg at his best. The relationship that forms between Bumblebee and Charlie (Hailee) is straight out of ET and works brilliantly. Humour in the film is good, action superbly directed, effects are industry leading and it’s a superb little movie.

And most importantly, Bumblebee is a VW beetle again :-)

Side note: The original Bumblebee toy was my first Transformer, I still have it

Adam Rating: 18/20

Welcome to the Scribble.co.uk

2019-02-01T12:44:00.000+00:00

Hi and welcome to the scribble.co.uk my personal blog with the random musings of a disgruntled 30-something year old. My name is Adam Toms, I’m a Library Manager in west london with an interest in photography, film, writing and video games. I also cycle 2-3 times a year (it counts!) and have a worrisome love for takeaway pizza.

Anything goes on this blog with no set themes, rhyme or reason. It can be anything from a film review to opinion piece to a rant. The purpose of the blog is to get me into writing publicly and growing my confidence and skills. So hopefully you’ll subscribe and come along for the ride.

Cheers All

Adam