>> surprised

By how good

Rise of Planet of the Apes

actually is, especially as we were prepared with the, “Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” jibes.

Project Nim

, a documentary about a chimp brought into a human family, completes a strong simian double bill this week.

>> watching

The Borgias.Neil Jordan directs the story of one of history's great families. It's on Sky Atlantic tonight.

>> singing

Like a Virgin, True Coloursand Eternal Flamesince catching songwriting legend Billy Steinbergperform at the Ruby Sessions, in Doyles, Dublin, on Tuesday. Think of a 1980s hit (or a 1990s one, or one from this century) and Steinberg probably wrote it. We just didn't expect him to sing them all; youtube.com/user/RubySessions

>> reading

Claire Tomalin's Charles Dickens: A Life. Following books on Hardy, Pepys, Austen and Mansfield, one of the best modern biographers takes on another literary giant.

>>listening

To I Break Horses, a Swedish duo whose album, Hearts, is a layered, mesmeric and gorgeous debut.

>> planning

To see The Gloaming, the supergroup formed by Thomas Bartlett, Dennis Cahill, Martin Hayes, Iarla Ó Lionaird and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, at the National Concert Hall next Saturday.

>>quoting

"I'd love to smash the Ritz . . . or stay at the Ritz"

Laura Slattery reporting yesterday from the Edinburgh Fringe, where Andrew Maxwell had weaved the London riots into his set