Day off before my birthday weekend so treated myself to being emotionally annihilated by Hamnet. Never been quite as mesmerised by an actor as Jessie Buckley towards the end of that. Astonishing.

First trip of 2026 to the cinema yesterday. A 10am start for a film starring Kristen Wiig, Jason Mantzoukas and Gloria Estefan. That's right, it was The Gabby's Dollhouse Movie. It was fine actually. Contains one very solid joke. Also cost a grand total of £2 for me and my daughter to go.

The kids radio station on my daughter's Yoto player is currently playing this 1979 track. 6music wishes it had the range.

Commonwealth Games tickets opened up today for Glasgow residents so I thought I'd have a look. To attend the only athletics session we'd be able to make would have cost us over £150 as 2 adults and a child. For the cheap seats. Guess not then.

you don't understand. as someone who isn't inherently good at art, stealing paintings from the museum is the *only* way i'm able to express myself creatively. i wouldn't be able to paint beautiful portraits. but by breaking into a museum and stealing the paintings, now i am

Have been physically and mentally exhausted lately and surrounded by grief so decided to treat myself to a solo cinema trip. Went to see Bring Her Back 👀 That was a choice! Talk To Me is my favourite horror film of recent years and this by the Phillippou brothers is possibly even more devastating.

My newly turned 6 year-old just told me she had a hypothesis. -OK, what's your hypothesis -it's an idea you can test out -very good, but not what is a hypothesis. What's YOUR hypothesis? *she thinks for quite a while* -I can do science because I have long arms. That's why babies can't do science!

Worth knowing about. Nothing free is really free.

Just fixed the tumble dryer with a £4 part. Feel like a god!

Did one day in the edit with Yentob so that was an experience! He was very nice to me and very interested in all my opinions. Admittedly I think it was because he was trying to play me off against the director, but still!

To give an idea of how long it is since it rained in Glasgow - I opened my 5 year-old's blinds this morning and she asked "Why is the sky doing that, Daddy?"!

Absolutely loving the predictive text feature on the new Outlook update that thinks I want to write Christmas every single time I go to write my name.

In 2015, the UK was the leading country on LGBTI human rights in Europe according to IGLA-Europe, with 86%. In 2025, we have dropped to 46%.

Still getting over my 5 year-old daughter the other day saying "Daddy, when I'm older, can you send me this song so I can remember listening to it with you?" - almost ended me!

They call me the phlebotomist's nightmare. Like getting blood out of a... man with very hard to find veins.

trans women are women trans men are men nonbinary people are nonbinary and keir starmer is an absolute fuck

Tickets bought for the first @allodarlin.bsky.social gig in Glasgow since 2012 at the much missed Captain's Rest. Very excited!

Not sure it's a great thing when the nurse who's just meant to be taking your sutures out is excited to show you off to the student nurse as a classic case of 'red man syndrome'. Basically my whole body is a rash right now. What fun!

In a just world the whole nation would be gathered round their TV sets watching the pancake day episode of 'Things You Should Have Done' every year. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001wryd

Top tip if you want to feel old. Why not get a phone call to confirm your hip operation while you're at that very moment ending a Teams call about your will.

I guess an indication that we may have left it a bit too long between cleans is that I now find it quite jarring being able to see what's in the oven!

It's a very long time since I've watched The Elephant Man and my memory of it was that David Lynch had directed it very 'straight'. Didn't take long to dissuade me of that!

You think they really care? They're bankrolling getting their ideas out into the public and it's working incredibly well.

Bus Driver - Do you know where you are? Inebriated older gentleman - no BD - right, see in front of you that's the station. You live down there (points to the right) IOG - alright *gets off the bus and starts walking straight ahead* BD - he's going the wrong fucking way!

Ignoring the fact that it's a really great drama, this show also does an incredible job of accurately portraying the adoption process. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001wzp4

Rare 5 pointer I actually would have had the nerve to go for on Only Connect tonight.

2 blue tits 1 coal tit 1 dunnock 7 house sparrows 2 jackdaws 2 magpies 1 robin 5 pigeons 4 starlings #biggardenbirdwatch Definitely a big dip in our sparrow numbers (think it's been as high as 21 in the past) and as usual our blackbird couple haven't shown up for the birdwatch hour!

Finally the day has arrived that will prove my trampoline tethering skills once and for all.

I think the 2017 run of Twin Peaks may be my favourite David Lynch work. Just looked it up and I'd forgotten there was a full 18 episodes of that madness! What an absolute joy it was to sit down for dinner on a Monday night during that period and have a new episode of God knows what to devour!

Would recommend watching Joe Pera Talks with You at all times, but particularly if, like me right now, you're unwell. Soothing, beautiful and funny. Also every episode is about 10 minutes long, so minimal commitment! www.channel4.com/programmes/j...

Have now watched two films in a row staffing Ralph Ineson. Who knew Finchy from The Office would become 2024/25's King of horror?!

My quizzing level is that I would be a very good addition to a Christmas University Challenge team but a very poor addition to a regular University Challenge team.

Every film I watched for the first time last year to get the coveted 4 1/2 (I'm not one of those to liberally throw around a 5!) rating from me on Letterboxd. Rye Lane (2023) The Iron Claw (2023) Aftersun (2022) Talk To Me (2022) The Outrun (2024) Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

Pretty confident I'm not finishing anything else in 2024 so here's the 32 books I read this year. My favourite was probably The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. Long books give me the fear sometimes but this was just a constant joy to read.

My 5 year-old daughter when asked what was special about tomorrow replied "I get to open my present from Pete". Pete is her bus driver who I'm guessing has possibly bought her a small selection box.

If you've never seen David Hasselhoff and The Krankies share a stage then you're culturally bereft as a nation.

Telly-wise this might be my favourite of the year. Certainly the one that doesn't seem to be appearing in any end of year lists. Bonkers but beautifully crafted underneath it all. Watched it through for a 2nd time this week. For fans of Stath Lets Flats I'd say.

Previously only knew Bill Ryder-Jones as "that guy from The Coral" but Iechyd Da is easily my favourite album of the year. Beautiful music, great strings, sad lyrics, hints of a Mercury Rev and children's choirs. Works for me.

“Our technology requires parasitical theft to be profitable” is a bold gambit

Creatives of all sorts should fill this in. Well maybe not the whole thing as it's long and gets increasingly complex - but we can't have a world where the burden is on artists to opt out of having your work stolen in case it creates a little extra work for those billion dollar companies!

Pretty sure I heard Mark and Lard play that every night for about a month so couldn't not get that in one. Britpopple #893 🔊🟩⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ #Britpopple #Heardle @Britpopple britpopple.glitch.me

Edwin Morgan's Trio will always be my favourite Christmas poem. Orphean sprig! Melting baby! Warm chihuahua!

What? Kids love baths! It's splashy water time - try getting them out of one!

Why yes, I do still listen to new music. This is the child's favourite song to dance to (along with 'Don't Leave Me This Way' by The Communards) when she says the magic words "but I still have some energy left" before bed!

Sometimes you worry about how good the algorithms are getting and then at other times you find Amazon thinks you may want to buy the CD of Chris Tarrant's Millennium House Party. In fairness I do appreciate the sequencing of N-Trance followed by Van Morrison and then The B-52s!

Lovely to see @ballboymusic.bsky.social for the first time in ages. New songs sounding amazing and the classics sounding classic!

From our Glasgow City Council home we can be in a playpark in Renfrewshire, East Ren or South Lanarkshire in 15 minutes or so and it's a running joke (with the possible exception of the new one in Pollok Park) how immediately you can tell.

This was worryingly entirely accurate! 29 artists recognised.

The story of how the whole Captain Tom thing started still blows my mind. Would any normal person not maybe bake a cake? cook his favourite dinner? rather than set him on a garden death march.