What have the Romans ever done for us???

Oh well that definitely beats only missing out on the first 20 mins! But yeah, what a film (although I feel it sags somewhat in the middle).

Completely agree, Zoë! Hopefully we get a fair, balanced depiction one day.

Not really in the spirit of your question, but: we had Return of the Jedi taped off the TV, BUT my parents had missed the first 20 minutes. So I was 20ish when I finally saw the full film and learned why the hell they were jumping into a pit in the middle of a desert and why Han wasn't still frozen.

Both amazing films. Life of Brian in particular gets quoted a lot in my family.

Ah nuts, I've been snorting wrong all this time.

Conversation starter:

Would you change you name (officially or just start introducing yourself differently) if a famous namesake did something terrible/embarrassing/cringe?

Last year I had a lot of success letting my #neurodiverse brain off the leash.

This year my only resolution is lean into that more. Accept and embrace the fact there is no consistency.

The state of the world at the moment makes the years feel a bit like versions of Windows. We were pretty sure this was the last one, but they keep on coming.

Good luck for 2026!

The Chronic Failure’s Guide to Goal Setting in 2023 Change how you set goals in 2023 and perhaps you, too, could end the year standing on a rock and going ‘Yay’.

It's nearly time to ask ourselves 'What would I like to feel bad about in 12 months' time?'

Here are some useful tips from a few years ago on setting better New Year's Resolutions.

Happy Christmas to all the peeps who celebrate it, and just general happy wishes to those who don't.

Good vibes all around, in other words.

Question for you: we all spend a lot of time looking for content (scrolling, searching, and so on). But what are you actually looking for? Can you describe what it is?

I'm not sure that I can. Which is weird, right?

The front cover of Tiny Experiments (How to live freely in a goal-obsessed world), by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

This was an interesting book - particularly the stuff about learning and failing in public. Yet I feel it didn’t really embrace the ethos that it espoused. Most of the examples of success were the usual ‘and they grew a newsletter to 100k subscribers’, etc.

Modern day Christmas Carol where Scrooge gets cancelled for his comments about the poor.

Gratitude journaling, but it's just writing 'Thank fuck that's over' on every page.

The front cover of The Next Conversation (Argue less, talk more), by Jefferson Fisher.

I really enjoyed this book. Full of real-world examples and told with warmth and understanding.

Plesiosaurus implies the existence of Thankyouosaurus.

Progress requires more than knowing the ‘Other Side’ is wrong The right knows they’re correct. The left knows they’re correct. Both believe the other is ill-informed and irrational. See the problem?

The more we convince ourselves the ‘Other Side’ is irredeemably evil, the more opportunities we lose to make a meaningful difference.

One of the things technology often does is make us see every aspect of an older format as a weakness.

But I'm starting to think that some of a magazine's greatest strengths are things we once would have considered its shortcomings.

open.spotify.com/episode/592b...

Book Review: Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter - Rewan Tremethick Let’s just start with a little context setting, given that this is book III in the series. If you’ve read my review of Horus Rising, you’ll know what first enticed …

Galaxy in Flames has to build upon the disappointing narrative choices made in its predecessor, False Gods. While that means the author’s hands are tied, Ben Counter still manages to deliver a gripping and emotional third instalment in The Horus Heresy.

#Nerdlings #Reading #Warhammer

What social media notifies you about:

- Jeff, who you don't know but your cousin's ex once like a post of his, has posted a new post. Check it out!

What social media doesn't notify you about:

Someone read your article that you posted, loves it and wants permission to get it tattooed on their back

You know when you're on the phone to customer service, and they have to go and speak to a colleague?

Do you think *they're* sitting on hold as well, muttering 'No I CAN'T find out about this on the website'?

Book Review: The Puzzle Wood, by Rosie Andrews - Rewan Tremethick I’d like to start by apologising to any other books I may read this year, because The Puzzle Wood has set the bar incredibly high. This fast-paced gothic mystery kept …

The Puzzle Wood was one of the first books I read this year, and it still remains one of the best.

#BookReview

A box of Tampax tampons sitting in the fridge section of Sainsbury’s next to boxes of four chocolate eclairs.

I’m worried about the person who mixed these up.

Book Review: The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton - Rewan Tremethick Stuart Turton writes books that are difficult to review. They’re incredibly easy to enjoy (see my review of The Devil and the Dark Water); very difficult to explain. What can I tell …

Another classic from Stuart Turton - pretty much impossible to explain without spoiling something. Starts off a little slow, but when it gets going it does so like a missile. A nicely layered book where the reveals just keep on coming.

#BookReview #Reading

My brain is like ordering a toasted sandwich Explaining autistic overthinking through the medium of a takeaway cheese toastie. Obviously.

On the one hand, I roll my eyes at LinkedIn 'thought leaders' who try and extract meaning out of every trivial thing; on the other, my wife ordering a toasted cheese sandwich turned out to be a teachable moment...

#ActuallyAutistic #Neurodiversity

Halfway through 2025? Time for a reading update - Rewan Tremethick Yes, yes, isn’t the year going quick? Where’s it disappearing to? Gosh, it’s July already? And all that. Picture the scene: it’s January and you’ve decided that you’re going to …

Not too long now before us bookish folk look back on the year and see how much we read.

So here's a reminder of what happened when I let my brain off the hook, abandoned the notion I *have* to read, and just see where I ended up:

#AmReading

We need more shape-based idioms.

'Can we circle back?'

'No, but we can rhombus about.'

Willpower is not what you think it is Neurodivergents know better than anyone that the way we all view willpower is wrong.

The notion that I just ‘didn’t want it enough’ has probably been one of the most damaging delusions I held before I discovered my neurodivergence.

Willpower isn’t what we think. It’s a feature of our brain, not some mystical veto mechanism that sits beyond it.

#ActuallyAutistic

I'd like to see magazines return to prominence as a go-to source of 'content'.

And maybe as the internet gets more and more crowded with content, that's exactly what'll happen.

open.spotify.com/episode/592b...