Vision In Blue

January, the traditional time for "new year, new you" posts. I always say I won't read them... but that obviously doesn't work out so well when they promise you so many wondrous things. Some of them can actually be interesting, but that's where my enthusiasm stops. Everyone wants to make you do everything, all the time, and I've discussed before how that's almost impossible when you're struggling. As a general rule of thumb a habit can be formed in two months, and broken in one month... and yes this is just an estimate because studies on the subject vary from person to person... but it's an excellent place to start don't you think? What if you try to do, or not do, something for that long and see what happens? It honestly does work, and would work for longer if you don't relapse into old habits... but that's not the point of what I'm suggesting you try. You only have to try it for one or two months. That's not so hard, right...

You guys know I like my Doctor Who, so when this one came up on Netgalley it was another no brainer... of course I was going to request it. Doctor Who: Myths And Legends by Richard Dinnick For thousands of years, epic stories have been passed down from Time Lord to student, generation to generation. The truth of these tales was lost millennia ago, but the myths and legends themselves are timeless. These are the most enduring of those tales. From the princess Manussa and her giant snake Mara, to the Vardon Horse of Xeriphin, these stories shed light on the universe around us and the beings from other worlds that we meet. Myths hold up a mirror to our past, present and future, explaining our culture, our history, our hopes and fears. A collection of epic adventures from the Time Lords’ mist-covered past, Myths and Legends is an unforgettable gallery of heroes and villains, gods and monsters. I was really excited by this one. The contents page was encouraging, with tales ...

There are subscriptions in life that we're just accustomed to. We pay rent monthly, mortgages, TV, internet, phones, and bill after bill. But recently I was looking at cutting back on expenses in my life and some of my subscriptions were on the chopping block. This thought came about because of a little rant I had to myself about music subscriptions. I use Spotify and Google Play Music. On Spotify I come and go with the subscription when I'm in the mood for music as I only listen to songs I like, never new music unless I've picked it up off the radio. So for me, paying £10 a month really isn't worth it. When I got myself a Google Home for my kitchen it came with three month's free music, so of course I switched over to that, and then carried on the subscription after the offer, again, at £10 a month. But it's just come to the point where I've decided it isn't music mood anymore. After cancelling that subscription (and realising that Google Play M...

This one was a bit out of the blue, searching through new titles for our February catalogue I came across this cute looking cover and when I was Googling for more information I discovered it was on Netgalley... so of course that was going to get read straight away! Kim Reaper: Grim Beginnings by Sarah Graley Kim is like any other university student trying to get by, she's found herself a part-time job to help make the rent. But it's not quite that simple. When she leaves a lecture the only things she needs to do to get to work is get out her scythe and open a portal there. Kim is a part-time grim reaper. Becka has noticed Kim in class, the beautiful gothic angel has caught her eye and she's hatching a plan to meet her properly. That plan goes slightly awry when she chases after her and ends up in Kim's portal to work. This little mishap leads to all sorts of chaos, one not quite dead cat, one fully dead cat-dad, some vengeful zombies, and a bunch of grim re...

Photo by  Peter Lewicki  on  Unsplash I had one of those moments where I thought "I don't care that other people are making their own top 10 listings... I'm going to do one." So here it goes! The Short List Here's the (long) short list of what I saw this year, things I saw as Unlimited Screenings are in italics : A Monster Calls | Assassin's Creed | Sing | LEGO Batman | Hidden Figures | Logan | Fist Fight | Kong: Skull Island | Beauty And The Beast | Life | Table 19 | Boss Baby | Going In Style | Fate Of The Furious | Smurfs: The Lost Village | Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2 | A Dog's Purpose | Ghost In The Shell | Sleepless | Alien Covenant | King Arthur Legend Of The Sword | Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge | Baywatch | Wonder Woman | The Mummy | Baby Driver | Transformers: The Last Knight | Despicable Me 3 | The House | Spider-man: Homecoming | War Of The Planet Of The Apes | Cars 3 | Dunkirk | The Big Sick | Girl'...

Doing a round-up sometimes seems like a terrible idea. Especially when, for me, this year has had its ups and downs. It started off very badly. A friend passed away after being admitted to hospital just before new year. No life is ever quite long enough, but hers was definitely too short. She was the kind of person that you thought would just always be there. Her loss was a tragedy, and it made me realise that I don't spend enough time seeing people, but it is almost impossible to change that sometimes. I tried to write a piece back in January about her spirit and the loss I felt, but by March I still had just one sentence written and I realised that that was probably the best I could do. Every time I sat down to think about it I couldn't do anything but stare at the screen. We feel the loss of everyone in our lives, but her death hit me harder than that of any before. I spent five days a week with her, sometimes more, she was someone who would always make you part of her fam...