Fiction

The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Chapters 1–2

Back in 2020, I started trying to read more of the original Sherlock Holmes stories that I've never read (because there are quite a few of them, actually). It looks like I made it through six before stopping again, for whatever reason. I always intended to continue… it's just that, me being me, it's taken over four years to get back on that horse. Anyway, here I go again, diving in with what some regard as the best of the four Doyle Holmes novels.

Videos

Critical Role
2x72 Clay and Dust [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

Theatre

Hamilton
UK & Ireland Tour at Wales Millennium Centre
I was due to see this back in early December, but a storm happened to blow through that weekend and travelling wasn't worth the risk — especially as we were able to re-book for today in (slightly) better seats at a lower price.

Videos

Critical Role
2x71 Family Gathering [2nd half]
I'm gonna guess some people don't like episodes like this, because they're not action-packed (not even a vague intimation of a fight), nor full of plot developments, nor big emotional scenes; but they're also where we get to just hang out with the characters a bit, and feel like they're people rather than just 'adventurers'. It's a worthwhile thing for any long-running series to invest in, but I also feel like it's the heart of roleplaying — i.e. fully embodying being someone else.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

Talks Machina
#120 SDCC 2019 Panel
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]

Films

Run Lola Run (1998)
[#4 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Videos

Critical Role
2x71 Family Gathering [1st half]
This episode marks the pivot point of Campaign 2: 70 episodes watched before it, 70 episodes to go after it... although the campaign finale is basically double-length, so it wouldn't be unfair to call the end of this episode the halfway point. (Unless we're talking about running time, of course.)
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

It was, in a way, a week of two halves at 100Films.co.uk. In the first, I wrapped up last year with the final post of my annual review...


The Best of 2024

this is a ‘top ten’ in the sense that it’s the top 10% of my 2024 viewing. I watched 131 films for the first time last year, which means this time it’s a top thirteen. I’ve called this “best films” because I always have, but this year I’ve definitely leant more into “favourites” in my decision-making.

Read more here.


Then, a trio of posts kicked off my 2025 Challenge...





Blindspot 2025

Regular readers will know that my Blindspot selection process is often tortuously complicated. I don’t just pick twelve films I feel like watching, but compile various “great films” lists and use them to concoct some kind of ranking. Not so this year...

Read more here.


What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen These Films You’ve Bought Multiple Times?

I want to make a confession: sometimes I buy new copies of films I already own but have never seen. Never mind blind buying, I blind upgrade. It's stupid, I know... Nonetheless, the theme of this year’s WDYMYHS was provoked by my relatively recent purchase of Le Samouraï in 4K... I wanted a selection methodology that would force me to finally watch Le Samouraï, so what better than the very reason I wanted to be forced to watch it?

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of Everything 2025
[Watch it (again) on Channel 4.]

Films

The Six Triple Eight (2024)
[#3 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Videos

Critical Role
2x70 Causatum [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

Talks Machina
#119 'Causatum'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

The 2025 new releases kick off this week with Se7en on 4K — although it supplements my old Blu-ray rather than replacing it, owing to the changes made by director David Fincher and the omission of some old restoration-related special features.

Also this week: some sale titles, including a couple I ordered back in December that finally arrived, and a couple more 4Ks (including an upgrade from DVD for Chinatown — which, coincidentally, features Fincher on its commentary track).

Number of titles in collection: 3,453 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 991 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,462 [up 8]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 422 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 8,325 [up 13]
Number of films: 4,373 [up 7]
Number of additional cuts: 428 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 9,856 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,209 [up 12]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Videos

Critical Role
2x70 Causatum [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

Videos

Critical Role
2x69 The King's Cage [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

Talks Machina
#118 'The King's Cage'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]

TV

Blackadder II
2x03 Potato [2nd watch]
After an unintended nine-month hiatus, my Blackadder rewatch resumes with the one guest starring Doctor Who and Arthur Dent.

Videos

Critical Role
2x69 The King's Cage [1st half]
Alright, time to try to renew my commitment to getting through Critical Role. It's rumoured Campaign 3 is coming to an end imminently, so me finishing Campaign 2 in time to go straight into Campaign 4 seems unlikely now, but you never know.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

Articles

Our culture isn't fantasy - so stop misusing it for mystical books
by Catriona Aitken (from BBC News)
Thought this — about the (mis)treatment of Welsh heritage by fantasy authors — was very interesting.

this week on 100Films.co.uk

A new year began this week (did you notice?) and so 100Films.co.uk has been full of end-of-the-year business.

But first: it was also the end of a month (December, obv), so there was the usual December review...





And my monthly "failures"...





Those end-of-year posts went as follows...


100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024: Final Standing

As the challenge tracker page will soon be replaced with a version keeping tabs on 2025’s effort, here’s an archive of how it looked at the very end of 2024.

Read more here.


2024: The List

Throughout the year, my monthly reviews keep you up-to-date on my progress with the 100 Films in a Year Challenge; what they no longer record is all my first-time watches. Fortunately, to rectifying that omission we have The List: every film I watched for the first time in 2024

Read more here.


2024 Statistics!

When Andy Williams sang “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”, he was on about Christmastime; but ’round these parts, the real most wonderful time of the year comes a little later: in early January, with the annual statistics post. And, friends, that time is here again.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Friends
5x11 The One with All the Resolutions [5th or so watch]
5x12 The One with Chandler's Work Laugh [5th or so watch]
5x13 The One with Joey's Bag [5th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x06 Episode 6

Films

Here we go again...

Anna Karenina (2012)
[#2 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Death Goes to School (1953)
[#1 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

After the busy end to last year, the new year begins with... nothing. Well, it's always a quiet time of the year for new releases; but it's a busy one for sales, but still, nowt for me... yet: there's stuff in the post.

Number of titles in collection: 3,446 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 992 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,454 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 419 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 8,312 [no change]
Number of films: 4,366 [no change]
Number of additional cuts: 426 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,856 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,197 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.