tim2

I watched the first of the new series of The Grand Tour yesterday. I'm not sure why as it was going rapidly downhill in the episodes of S2 that I watched. What a load of old cack. Truly terrible. End of review. I could rant for a page or two but I can't be arsed.

I did junior parkrun with my 4 year old grandson this morning (he got a PB) and then another 9K on the Rother Valley trails at lunchtime. Celebrated with a large glass of Pinot Gris tonight. 40km for the week and 75km for the month.

I did my fastest parkrun since April 2017 - 26.12, 16 seconds quicker than last week. Still 3 and a half minutes slower than my PB.

Not for me, I'm too tempted to raid the fridge.

Better than me - 60K so far.

9 mile run last night, now down to 12 stone (19lbs lost)

8.8K (five and half miles in Brexit units) run last night. Struggling with a sore throat so not quick. Still, a little bit shaved off the weight at this morning's weigh-in.

I saw this last night. Beautifully simple film with very good acting. I particularly enjoyed the recreations of the routines.

I'm hoping to get a decent amount of running in this year - 1000K target. I hate going to the gym - I only do it when absolutely necessary so it's all going to be road or trail.

Indeed. The issue often (as you discover on the facebook group) is that one person's masterpiece is another's terrible travesty.

Yes, very impressive but during the day it was heaving. I queued to see a Da Vinci piece behind a line of Korean tourists who didn't actually look at it but took photos on their iPads.

Try the facebook group "Terrible Art in Charity Shops" - there are some belters on there.

I didn't know that either.

Maybe, or maybe a gimmick. We'll see. It must be a lot more expensive to create (and difficult to write something coherent) so it has to be worth it from the viewer's perspective. It certainly made me concentrate, and I'm going to try it again and make some different choices to see how it plays out. I went down some "dead end" boring endings and it took me back to some key decision points to have another go.

I went to see Mary Poppins Returns yesterday - absolutely swam in nostalgia and was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it. It's basically a remake with loads of references to its prequel but with modified story line - they've even kept the 1960s animation style and had Dick van Dyke (with a better but imperfect accent) dancing on a table at 80+ years old and Angela Lansbury, who must be about 100 now.

If there are aliens out there - please ignore the Prime Directive and get us the **** out of this mess.

Better in the cinema - shows off the cinematography but in general, and as I've said before about many films, too long.

The BBC should commission you - 8 film reviews in 3 mins. Great value for money! Film nerds are essential for creating great cinema - whether that be arty films or blockbusters. Spielberg, Tarantino, etc.were all obsessed with films that they've seen and put bits into their films that are homages to films that most of the audience will never have seen. Anyway, film review programs have never been popular. Even in its Barry Norman heyday Film 19whatever was always on at 11.20 on a Monday night.

Do you actually watch them? This is one of the few films where I disagree with his assessment. My only problem is that he gives too much away so I catch up afterwards.

If you like Bruce Springsteen, his one man Broadway show on Netflix is stunning. If you don't, probably not for you!

The Mark Kermode reviews are much better anyway - having a film show on fr about 10 weeks out of 52 is chuffin' useless.

I ran the Christmas Day parkrun in full Santa suit but I've just put 3lbs on in 2 days and have picked up a cold from my grandson. Hopefully I'll recover by the wekend to start repairing some of the Christmas damage.

I didn't do Hull in the end - I went to my home run of Rother Valley, celebrating their 250th run. Looking to do Poolsbrook tomorrow, Ellesmere Port next Saturday and a double in Leicester on New Year's Day.

2018 films at the cinema - "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" I'm starting to think that some of the best productions now are TV series - Amazon and Netflix are rolling in cash and have generated some very good multi-series dramas. I've just finished watching Narcos: Mexico after watching the Colombian versions. There is some sh*te on those channels too!

parkrun has just got Sport England funding for 200 new parkruns. That will take it to nearly 800 in the UK. I've done 57 so far - hardly a dent in the total! I'm doing Hull parkrun on Saturday - that will complete the set of 3 in the city. The exciting news is that Tucson, Arizona has one now and I'm going there for work in February.