I just saw Top Gun Maverick and felt the need – the need er… for a review. I haven’t written a film review for a while as I tend to write about things I just saw at the cinema. And that has been a few months. Top Gun Maverick sees Tom Cruise reprise his role…
I just got back to Thailand after six weeks from the UK. I hadn’t been back to Blighty for around two and a half years and the difference was a bit of a shock. Nothing major, but enough to possibly be of interest to anyone travelling in either direction. I was in a Bangkok bar…
I am currently doing this weird thing called travelling abroad. People used to do it all the time, but it has fallen out of favour the last couple of years for some reason. Being something of a contrarian, I went from sunny Thailand to London. In March. I hadn’t left Thailand since 2019, so I…
I was er, ‘working’ when I came across Owlkitty on YouTube. I do a lot of research, just so I can keep things fresh and exciting here at the Word of Ward and this genuinely made me laugh out loud. So I thought I’d share. OwlKitty is the stage name and channel for Lizzy the…
Can fasting cure type 2 diabetes? It seems like it is possible and is something I am in a position to find out – as I have it. A brief history of getting type 2 diabetes I found out I had type 2 diabetes about four years ago. I knew that losing weight was one…
I used the Day One app on my old MacBook Air years ago and absolutely loved it. But then they moved to a subscription model and I wavered. Did I really need an actual app to write my sometimes inane but usually powerful and insightful thoughts? Then, for various reasons, I switched to a Microsoft…
I spent last year writing non fiction – this year, that is going to change. Writing fiction is deeply satisfying and after a day of it, there’s a sense of a day well spent. I do a lot of ghostwriting and if I spend the day writing about bitcoin or leadership techniques then see it…
Mindfulness, meditation, writing more, and the importance of routine are concepts I have decided to embrace more this year. It is partly a deepfelt yearning for life improvement and partly because I am turning 50 this year and have decided to have a personal crisis. It seems daft that I have always been a bit…
Happy Festivus! It is time to celebrate, drink, go to church, or air your grievances! Whatever floats your boat, I hope you are having fun. All of us at the Word of Ward Towers hope you are well and enjoying the festive season. I know I am, and although the hangovers are unpleasant, it is…
When I was young I was massively into the predictions of Nostradamus. Sadly most of them were shite. I was about 11 or 12 and also loved things like the mysteries of the crystal skulls, yetis, abominable snowmen, ghosts, the occult, and so on. I think it is a phase young atheists go through when…
I wrote this sad story about a gorilla raised in a small English village for Medium earlier this year. It went massively viral with 63,000 reads. And that was behind a paywall. It’s a great story, even ignoring my fine prose, so I thought I would share it for free. (Although feel free to click…
It’s that NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) time of year again. This time last year I was writing so much I thought sliding a novel into the mix would just happen. Except it never did. The writing I do for my job, that pays the rent and so on, seemed to take over and dominate…
I am getting rid of adverts as they feel unnecessary and ineffectual these days. Let me briefly explain the plan. I have been ridiculously busy of late and most of it has been unsatisfying. I have quite a few clients – who are all utterly fantastic and brilliant – and then a load of random…
At long last, Hawkeye is getting his own film. And it looks a shitload of fun. The time of worrying about whether Marvel will make a decent job of things passed a long time ago. A couple films in Phase One weren’t great but since then they keep banging out belters. The idea of a…
Podcasts are a pretty amazing phenomenon and I am late to the party. But for the last few years, I have been embracing the medium, partly because they can be fascinating and funny, and partly because they are a huge repository of ideas and interesting stories. The podcasts below are all entertaining and will teach…
I never really saw the point of audiobooks before as I adore books and the act of reading. Why listen to someone else’s voice when my own mental voices are so great? Then the pandemic happened. I know that sounds dramatic, and I have been fortunate to have been largely left unscathed. I was, however,…
If you are reading this as a result of doing a plagiarism scan, then read on. For everyone else, it is probably best to skip it. Here’s the story. I write for a variety of clients and on a number of platforms. Someone got in touch with me on the platform. It was late and…
Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet was the first show I watched when I got Apple TV+. I wasn’t all that bothered about Apple TV but you get a free year when you buy a laptop or iPad. I am a huge fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia which had the same writer and star –…
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is here and you have to feel a bit sorry for Japan. Hosting an Olympics costs a fortune but the theory is that visitors will pay back some of the investment and afterward you have a lot of lovely stadiums. So, hopefully, they can still enjoy the latter. You know, in…
I recently bought a new iPad Pro, got the new Apple Pencil thing, downloaded Procreate and applied that paper-like screen cover stuff. I’ve have decided to get back into art and always feel like spending a ton of cash is half the battle. I can draw ok and have done since I was young but…