Friend of the newsletter and work/life guru, Tom Grundy, recently recommended a book to me by Scott Adams, the brains (and pen) behind Dilbert. I couldn't find How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big for my trusty Kindle, so I asked for it as a Christmas gift instead. Dad delivered and I've been happily picking away at the paperback since. Adams comes across as a polymath and lots of bits have LEAPT off the page already. One yesterday was where Adams argues that the art of...

I watched La La Land for the first time over Christmas, sitting down with some of my family post-roast. Musicals aren't really my jam and the opening scene dancing on cars did little to allay those fears. But once Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling properly come into play, I found myself immersed. Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, it explores the quiet obsession of two people trying to work out what it really means to “make it” with Hollywood as the perfect backdrop. It also shines a lens on...

Liv & I have been working our way through a handful of festive films this December, and one of them was Red One. I wasn’t expecting much. Big-budget action (and Christmas) films can have a habit of deploying deeply unoriginal storytelling. Instantly forgettable. But this one surprised me. It turned out to be a little Christmas cracker. Part of that comes down to the casting. Dwayne Johnson stars as Callum Drift, Santa’s head of security, with a sharp sincerity that helps ground the sillier...