Instagram

Ah Instagram how we love you. Your pleasingly square photographs, your array of filters - you turn our ugly duckling photos into beautiful, elegant swans. The Optimist just can't get enough, and, as the season of freshness and change is just beginning, it seems that now is the perfect time to introduce a few new faces to your daily gallery. Here are some recommendations ...

Spring

Rejoice ye all, for Spring is officially upon us! From here on out it's blue skies and blossom. Let us take a look at some seasonal highlights in another of The Optimist's Pinterest galleries. Hoorah!

The Oscars Are Coming ...

Selflessly and without hope of praise or adulation, The Optimist has been trekking back and forth to the Cinema in a bid to see this year's Oscars forerunners - so that you, readers, can enjoy this award favourites special. Please, don't thank me.

Two Door Cinema Club - Golden Veins

The Optimist has found your new favourite song. Turn it up, dance around the house - leave the curtains open - let the neighbours see!

Inside Llewyn Davis

First things first; this film is downbeat - no doubt about that. It opens with a song about a hanging and looks as if it was all shot on one long drizzly Thursday. If you're expecting a happy-go-lucky musical, you'll be disappointed. If you're in the mood for a thought-provoking, darkly funny, ultimately heart-warming bit of cinema, you'll love it as much as I did.

Today I am mostly listening to ...

Mark Beaumont of NME gave this album a 0/10 review. Not because it's bad you understand, but because it's destined to earn the talented musician a few more Brit Awards. The write-up actually contained the line "I wish I could say there's a place in Hell reserved for Tom Odell" - You'll be glad to know that The Optimist, like any other civilised human being, doesn't stand for that kind of misplaced bitterness.

An Optimistic Advent Calendar - Day 24

I hope you've enjoyed spending December with The Optimist, and today's final advent offering is sure to bring a smile to your face.