Stuff weekender: 27/02/15
The films to watch, apps to download and things to do this weekend
Weekends are brilliant.
They start with a lie-in and end with roast potatoes and in-between you get to do whatever the hell you want. Well, unless you have kids or have to work, in which case they’re a nightmare.
Making the most of them takes a bit of effort though, and that’s where we come in. We’ve put together this guide to the films, books, music, TV, apps and games you should be immersing yourself in this weekend, plus a few suggestions for techie things to do.
App to download: Peak: Brain Training
Brain training is far from new, but Peak does it better than any other app we’ve used. It’s all in the simple genius of its quickfire games, the clean, colourful graphics, and the personalised training programme that’s designed to make you sharper and more focused.
Whether it will regrow all those brain cells we’ve brutally murdered over the years remains to be seen, but we’ve subscribed for the bonus content to give it a good shot. Miracles can happen, right?
Stuff says ✭✭✭✭✭
Event to follow: Mobile World Congress 2015
MWC 2015 doesn’t officially kick off until Monday morning, but most of the really tasty stuff takes place on Sunday.
We’re expecting to see the launch of both the HTC One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S6 on Sunday afternoon, with new phones also likely from Sony, Huawei, Alcatel and more.
Stuff has a full team over in Barcelona for the event and we’ll be live-blogging the Samsung press conference and regularly updating our main MWC hub page with all of the latest news. So the best way to follow what’s happening is to keep your browser locked to Stuff.tv for the duration.
Mobile World Congress 2015 hub page
Film to watch: Selma
No, not a biopic of Marge Simpson’s sister but the story of a landmark period for civil rights. Based on an Alabama march from Selma to Montgomery, led by Martin Luther King (played majestically by David Oyelowo), this is classic awards fodder, but its violence – police attacking unarmed black people – is a stark reminder that the fight continues today.
Stuff says ✭✭✭✭✭
Deal of the week: Oppo Find 7a
Fancy getting your hands on the 5.5in, full HD-screened Oppo Find 7a superphone? Course you do. After all, we awarded it the full 5 stars in our review.
Fortunately, Amazon’s celebrating Mobile World Congress by offering you the chance to buy it for a mere £270. But you’ll have to hurry – the offer runs out tonight (Friday).
Book to read: Neil Gaiman – Trigger Warning
Sorry, comic-book fans: this is an anthology of Sandman author Gaiman’s short stories. So there are no pictures at all, just words. Small black words, in a dreary font, on a plain white background. Where’s the fun in that?
The fun, in fact, is just about everywhere. These are wildly diverse yet consistently engrossing tales with the odd mystical twist but no over-tidy endings: where lesser writers struggle to tie up all their explanations in the short format, Gaiman is happy to leave questions floating in your brain.
Topics include imaginary girlfriends, Hebridean adventurers, murderous landladies and – in a story that somehow manages not to be preposterous – Sherlock Holmes keeping bees in China.
Stuff says ✭✭✭✭✩
5-Minute hack: Liven up your wallpapers
Live wallpapers are nothing new, but what if you’d like to turn any GIF or cinemagraph into your smartphone’s new homescreen background?
1. If you’re an Android user, download AnimGif Live Wallpaper 2 Pro (£1.69). Load your favourite GIFs on to your SD card, open them in the app’s settings and select ‘image fitting mode’.
2. Options for iPhones are a bit more limited. Though we don’t recommend jail-breaking your device, GIFPaper is for those who have already taken the leap.
3. Prefer your wallpapers to be stunning-but-static satellite imagery? There’s a fine selection of resized snaps from the likes of NASA and Airbus on aerialwallpapers.tumblr.com.
Streaming now…
On Netflix: House Of Cards Season 3
It’s finally back! Yes, a whole year after season 2, the third installment of the Kevin Spacey-led politics-and-backstabbing drama arrives on Netflix in its entirety. No, you’re not going to do anything else on this list this weekend.
On Now TV: Knights Of Badassdom
Peter Dinklage leads this quirky comic caper about a trio of live action role players who unwittingly summon a demon from hell. Happens to us all occasionally.
On Amazon Prime Instant Video: The Emperor’s New Groove
The best film ever about an emperor who gets turned into a llama and has to hang out with John Goodman? Undoubtedly so, and in fact this 2000 Disney flick is funny enough and fresh enough to stand as one of the studio’s best efforts so far this century.
Album to buy: Public Service Broadcasting – The Race For Space
PSB combine trippy grooves and Mogwai swells with samples of spoken word recordings. It’s a formula that can get a bit arse-toss, but the conceptual theme of their second album – built largely around the words of Apollo mission control staff – at least gives it an atmosphere all of its own.
Stuff says ✭✭✭✩✩
Game to play: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
A wodge of Star Wars RPG action just slammed down in the Android Play Store. All the fun of the PC version, but now you can play it at work too. Its controls translate surprisingly well to touchscreen and there’s already an iOS version if you’re of that persuasion.
Download Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic for Android (£6.57)
Download Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic for iOS (£7.99)
On terrestrial TV: 12 Monkeys
Make the weekend last as long as possible by settling down with Terry Gilliam’s 1995 sci-fi thriller at 11.20pm on Sunday. A trippy, dystopian sci-fi flick, it stars Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe and will leave your brain all of a muddle with its time-travelling, reality-shifting plot. So you should have good dreams afterwards.
12 Monkeys: Channel 5, 11.20pm, Sunday 1 March
The week’s must-reads
And finally, a few great stories you might not have seen on Stuff this past week:
Apple event dated for 9 March, likely to deliver final Apple Watch release details
The great battery exposé: 11 smartphone charging lies you’ve been told
Exclusive: first look at the Noodoe Watch, the cheap, customisable ‘anti-Apple Watch’
iCheapskate: the 35 best free apps for iPhone and iPad
How to become invisible (to Google)
Pebble’s next-gen smartwatch hits Kickstarter with a colour e-paper display
Marc McLaren
Contributor 
