Here's our latest Watching, Listening To and Reading, feel free to add your own...

The Writer:

WATCHING: That Thing You Do. Tom Hanks' 1996 directorial debut focuses on fictional 1960s pop group The Wonders (or The Oneders depending on which era of the band you're concentrating on). It's a pity Hanks has yet to follow it up because it's a light and enjoyable slice of Americana which proves he’s as good behind the camera as he is in front of it.

LISTENING TO: The Collateral soundtrack. An eclectic mix of chill-out tunes, edgy dance numbers and James Newton Howard's murky, urban underworld score, it's the perfect audio accompaniment to one of Michael Mann's best films of recent years.

READING: Essential Sensational Spider-Man Vol 3. While never quite hitting the heights of the classic Stan Lee/John Romita run on Amazing Spider-Man in the late 60s, these black and white reprints of the 1970s Sensational Spider-Man still have the same kind of drama, tragedy and romance that makes the wall crawling wonder so popular. Current Spidey writers, take heed...

The Editor:

WATCHING: Last film I watched was Chocolat. It was ok. I'd like to go to the cinema more often, but there's so little out that's actually worth the effort these days. Last one was Hot Fuzz, which was about as good as Chocolat, but disappointing because I'd hoped for much more. Also recently watched the failed American pilots for Red Dwarf on YouTube, which were certainly interesting, just not funny. At all.

LISTENING TO: Moby's Animal Rights. Before he took over the world of TV advertising with Play, he bemused his techno fanbase by making this rock album (interspersed with some lovely ambient melodies) and it's generally regarded as his weakest effort. Maybe it's because I saw him blow Soundgarden off the stage as a support act at the Apollo, touring this album, but I love it.

READING: Having finished War And Peace (!) last week I'm now onto The Good Life by Jay McInerney, which is a sequel to his classic Brightness Falls, with the central characters from that, Corrine and Russell Calloway still together and still living in New York. The Good Life sees how their lives are torn apart by 9/11, and while in the wrong hands it could be a schmaltzy mess, McInerney keeps it all with an edge that making for an engrossing read.