Bristol Burnout

2023 in photos

One photo per month for 2023 - a year of travel, friends and turning fifty. Not too bad all things considered.

Phestive Phun in Philly

I finished work for 2023 on the 14th with a final Show and Tell for the ORUK work (it went great - brilliant turnout, lots of engagement, broad support with a little challenge) and immediately jumped on the Lizzie Line to Heathrow T5 before a flight to Philly on the

Fifty random thoughts after fifty rollercoaster years

1. I think a lot about three potential Sliding Doors moments in my life where I lacked the nerve to walk through - all related to job offers. FT.com in 1998 which would have meant moving to London not long after graduating and being right in the middle of

[Road to 50] Movies

My favourite film for every year of my life so far. I've tried to be painfully honest rather than try to pretend I am cool or have decent taste. Funnily enough no Marvel movies made the cut but several DC ones - amazing really given generally I'

[Road to 50] Travel

My 40s were the decade I travelled abroad more than the rest of my life combined. Not that hard given I didn’t get on a plane until I was 27 and was broke for much of my thirties! Still, given the decade included the Covid lost years I feel

[Road to 50] Detectives

Okay so some of these are not strictly detectives but I think you can safely say they are all detective novel series. I am a sucker for hard-boiled style detective fiction - not the police procedural stuff and not the spy stuff. The kind of thing that evolved from Sam

[Road to 50] Rappers

As well as it being me turning 50 this year it is also the official 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop (the date of the famous party by Kool Herc in the Bronx). I was 9 or 10 when I fell in love with hip hop. The art, the

[Road to 50] TV

Yes I watch too much television and yes my taste is a bit all over the place. There is very little UK ‘prestige’ stuff here and I picked Blake’s Seven over Doctor Who mainly to be contrarian but also because I only really loved the Rose and Amy eras

[Road to 50] Comics

These aren't the best 50 comics of all time, or most important or even really in any kind of reliable order. They are however the 50 comics (collections or single writer runs) that I have most affection for that I have on a shelf or in a long

[Road to 50] Music

10 weeks until I turn 50. 10 posts reflecting on half of century of Jukesie. This is my favourite album for every year - so far...plus a playlist of my favourite track from each album. 1973 Let’s Get it On – Marvin Gaye 1974 Natty Dread - Bob Marley

Featured

T-shirt tales

My wardrobes have been seriously creaking under the weight of my abundance of t-shirts so I decided to do a bit of an audit today and try and made a little space. The final count was 78 currently on-site - another nine I think are out for laundry. This seems

Thank U, Next

So somewhat unexpectedly - and some might say ironically given I do a pretty popular newsletter [https://tinyletter.com/jukesie/letters] sharing vacancies for the sorts of vacancies I am interested in - I find myself in need of a job. Without getting into it my return to TPXimpact fell

150 days later: sunset of a sabbatical

(Well it was 150 days when I first started writing this..) I’m coming to the end of my sabbatical and am getting psyched up for my return to the (remote) workplace. Honestly I am returning with a certain amount of trepidation. The privilege to have been able to take

Enn Eff Tee time

I’ve been trying to get my head around some of the crypto related stuff that seems to dominate certain corners of the digital landscape these days - inspired in part by conversations with a cabbie in DC and an Uber driver in New York who were all-in on crypto.

October observations

Happy Halloween (bah humbug!). October has been a mixed bag. I’ve been feeling a lot better - mentally and physically - but that has meant I’ve started to get antsy and a bit bored without work or a major project to spend time on...which I’ve been

movies

Dune

TL;DR A rare movie that justifies the hype. If you have been waiting for a movie worth risking a visit to the cinema for this is it (much more than Bond IMHO). This is an epic, spectacular science fiction movie that never looks (or sounds) less than amazing and

One year later

Later this week marks the anniversary of my 'me vs automobile' accident. 52 weeks since even the lessons of the late, great Green Cross Code Man failed to save me from getting bounced along the street by a car (at a pedestrian crossing no less.) All in all

tv

ER endeavours

I have just completed viewing every episode of ER. That is 331 episodes over 15 seasons. Almost 250 hours. I was at university when ER landed in the UK. A friend - actually a film student - was obsessed with it and that led to me becoming a casual fan.

September's Sabbatical Shenanigans

It turns out taking a sabbatical takes a bit of effort (if you want to avoid becoming a complete hermit). Other people have jobs and lives and there is only so much time you can fill bingeing old ER episodes. That said over the course of the month I did

movies

No Time To Die

The saviour of the British Box Office (or so we have been led to believe) has finally landed in cinemas. My venue of choice has shows starting every 30 minutes for the next few days - though mine at 10am only had a dozen people in there. I don'

movies

Many Saints of Newark

I truly believe that 'The Sopranos' is one of the greatest television shows of all time (even with the stupid ending!) and was genuinely excited when the news of this prequel was released. Unfortunately it is a real disappointment from start to finish. I think if it had

Escape TO New York

Even before my recent burnout related issues I'd been dreaming of taking a sabbatical - I'd missed travelling and had known for a while I needed to get away for a while if I was to have any chance of really recharging. I essentially had a

movies

Gunpowder Milkshake

Maybe I am just drawn to movies that are 90s nostalgia-fests? That said actually the film this most reminds me of is 'Shoot 'em Up' which IMDb reliably informs me was 2007 - though I imagine the creators thought they were creating a female led John Wick.

movies

Copshop

This is definitely a post-peak-Covid cinema release. I can't imagine this getting into a movie theatre a couple of years ago - it positively screams 'straight to streaming'. Heck it stars the twin monarchs of streaming action flicks - Butler and Grillo. That said I genuinely

movies

My Marvel movie & telly top to bottom

These days I'm not sure what it canon and not re the tv shows so I may have taken some liberties but nonetheless this is my list - it is mainly based on how likely I am to rewatch the film/show (or how often I have) and