Over 40 reviews hit The Artbook Collector website in its first year 📚 I hope they have been helpful, I write them to include everything you need to know before buying, beyond just my thoughts on the artwork! Find the reviews below and thanks to everyone that visited the site 🙏

🥖 Baking some bread this afternoon - my regular 64% hydration plain white loaf. Then, once the mixing bowl was emptied, prepared some 80% hydration dough to prove overnight in the fridge, which I’ll turn into a Focaccia tomorrow. Difficult stuff to handle/fold. 👨‍🍳 #AmBaking 😋 #BreadSky 🍞

2️⃣3️⃣ Now we have @kiannardalan.bsky.social occupying this penultimate 23rd day of “The Advent of Winter“ with “Spirit of Whitenight”, a tale of those victims to a son’s foolishness, mourning, and being a mother. 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔳 94% 🏁 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

❤️ I’ve much enjoyed seeing @tomlloydwrites.bsky.social “idle update to the handful of people who are interested in my career” 🙋‍♂️ power off into a hit toot about ‘epic fantasy that’s lacking in romance’. 🙆‍♂️ Woe all the notifications dinging off tho 🛎️😂 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

I've now re-watched seasons 1 & 2 of Blake's 7 in the last fortnight, on the amazingly well restored Blu-Ray sets! These seasons really are SO good! I'd honestly say there's only one properly bad ep across these 26 episodes, and MANY classics! @spacefallb7.bsky.social

As we approach the end of the year, 2025 is on track to be one of the UK’s warmest years on record, joining 2022 and 2023 in the top three warmest years. Find out more in our news release 👇 www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

This year, across 45 posts about the history of 45 different UK chart #1 games, my blog has gone from June 1983 to March 1986. A thread of some highlights...

🔊 The one about Commodore, plus #Space1999 vs #Blakes7 (+ #StarTrek)! So this episode was an absolute delight for me 🤗 I’m still trying to find my way into the complicated story of Commodore today as I lack fundamental familiarity. 🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻

🕵️‍♂️ One of the mysteries of Summer was The Case of the Missing Resealable Freezer Bags. I was sure I had more while I was preparing the garden produce for long term storage. Bags that I’d previously used and washed. Today, December… “why won’t this kitchen drawer shut?” Oh, there they are! 😆

📺 Just noped out of two episodes from channels I’m subscribed to on YT! One is talking “moon planting” 🥴 Another tries to link a high-end burger with McLaren, the 🏎️ company, which seems like an excuse to look around the campus/play with some toys, with a wafer-thin connection to the kitchen 🙄

🔊 The one in which @nndroid.bsky.social rips impassioned words about turning point/decline of 🇺🇸 & just who is the reason for it all - not “the rotting turnip”! My gosh, Mr Harrison was on 🔥 in this episode! 😲 Also, The @seththevoz.bsky.social Statistic! 😆 🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻

🧦 Wet socks and politics are worth climbing for! 🤭 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

Dragon Quest people. I've not played any Dragon Quest games before. My initial plan was to play 7 Reimagined when it releases. Should I really play the new 1 to 3 HD-2D remakes first? Also wondering if realistically i'll get through 1-3 in time for 7.

2️⃣2️⃣ On the 22nd day of “The Advent of Winter” I did a double check on the length of @ryancahill.bsky.social’s “The Blood That Burns the Winter Snow” as I know he writes the odd chonker 😆 This is a tight dance of forms in the snow, when one cannot let another go. 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

Oh yeah.

I'm sorry but I still refuse to believe this man is only seven

So this is the #MotoGP piece I have been working on. About what #leadership means, what differentiates one rider from another, about how some riders can build a team around them that allow them to achieve their goals, and sometimes, step beyond them. motomatters.com/analysis/202...

folks I need some recommendations of places to start researching mining technology and practices in say roughly 1300-1600 ad in Europe. 👀

🔊 The one about ‘Plyscraper Bookcases’ that “stretch a mile into the sky”. Sounds like science fiction? Try @nndroid.bsky.social ‘s enthusiastic description to the panel! But also @seththevoz.bsky.social on nappies and bad smells… 😳🫢😱 🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻

📆 End of another weekend means it’s time for the occasional weekly reading update 🤓 I finished a book with a deadline attached so I immediately took my foot off the gas, nearly finished two others, and started final item on my December TBR. 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

📺 Watching “Secret Sauce of Storycraft” on #BookTube do “Best (& Worst) Books I Read This Year” has me pondering whether to totally rob all of the categories and try to come up with my own picks 🤔 Like most unique, series to continue, and the bests… 🧐 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

2️⃣1️⃣ Blimey, @kerosero.bsky.social does not mess around with the feels in “Three Bells to Midnight” on day 21 of “The Advent of Winter” 😮 A (mighty!) full-time librarian moonlighting as a charioteer, gifted in auric arcs, equipped with arm plates & holographics? Cool! 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

📗 I’ve started reading “The Fallen”, book 2 of @ada-hoffmann.bsky.social’s “The Outside” trilogy from @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social. I completed 📕 in October 👇 so I’ve been reacquainting myself with the principle characters after a few months have passed in book time. 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

Pantone just updated their Color Of The Year

This is absolutely fucking bananas the way that these people are *so close* to getting it but still manage to miss it by a fucking mile.

🔊 Inspired by a conversation with @chantaal.bsky.social yesterday, I am currently digging into the blink-182 back catalogue since I am quite unfamiliar. 💿 #NowPlaying 🎶 on 🍎🎵

💇‍♂️ Why I keep getting these tight little knots in my hair I do not know 🤷‍♂️ I end up ✂️ them out rather than attempt to unpick them.

🤞 Kind of hoping all of my podcast people - for there are many! - have a bit of a break for, oh, 2w maybe, so I can catch up with my epic backlog of episodes 😥 I seem to lurch from an overwhelming volume of material in one domain to another 📚 📺 🎮 🎧 etc. 🔊 #Podcasts 📻

🔊 The one in which @rmcunliffe.bsky.social describes the 'doom loop' of “lurching from crisis to crisis because fundamentally they haven’t figured out what the underlying issues are.” And @nndroid.bsky.social talks animatedly about Greg Bear's book “Blood Music”! 🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻

📺 Started watching the first season of “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon”. It has yet to be made clear why our boy Daryl is in France, but we do get a new type of ‘fleshie’… which is a ‘burner’. Neat. 📺 #TVShows 🧟‍♂️ #TheWalkingDead 🚶‍♂️

📺 DNF-ed TotWD 😣 ✅ The Walking Dead S1-11 ✅ The Walking Dead: Dead City S1 ❌ Tales of the Walking Dead ▶️ The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon S1 ⏸️ The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live S1 ⬛️ The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon S2-3 ⬛️ The Walking Dead: Dead City S2 📺 #TVShows 🧟‍♂️ #TheWalkingDead 🚶‍♂️

The EU will have to start requiring vaccine passports for American visitors

2️⃣0️⃣ In “The Advent of Winter“ day 20 is by @obeytheauthor.bsky.social with “A Winter Marvel”. 🧑‍🧒‍🧒🎶👩🏻‍🏫 I did not foresee where this one was going 😳🍆💥 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔳⬛️ 82% 🏁 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

🐈 #TheGuestCat dropped past for #Caturday ☺️

📺 I’ve been pondering my ranking episodes for “Blake’s 7” Series B, which I recently completed watching. But I could easily juggle 3-7 around 🤔 🏆 Star One Redemption Killer Trial Countdown Shadow Gambit Pressure Point Horizon Hostage Weapon Voice from the Past 🗑️ The Keeper 📺 #TVShows 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣

📱 Why, device, why would you correct “bad-ass” to “bad-add”?! 😖

A little reminder that some very generous patrons have gifted some Patreon memberships for the festive period! Get access to our Patreon only bonus episodes and Discord 🎮 Check out the links to claim before they're all gone 🙂 🔗 www.patreon.com/themimicsvei... 🔗 www.patreon.com/themimicsvei...

🔊 Not sure if I’ve listened to the whole album before. Definitely recognised a track from Rock Band/Guitar Hero though… you probably know the one. Just not my usual fare, but saw it pop up and thought “why not.” 💿 #NowPlaying 🎶 on 🍎🎵

theriffrepeater.com/rocksmith-dr... Rocksmith+ drops December Mix Tape featuring Weezer, Ghost, Queensrÿche, and more! Plus, a new single from All Time Low. We also take a look at Holiday Sales for Rocksmith+ (45% off), and Community Arrangements from AbutreViking.

1️⃣9️⃣ On this 19th day of “The Advent of Winter” I am checking out T.L. Greylock’s “Flurries, With a Chance of Treason”, which is an excellent two sided story of 🔥 ⚔️ 💃 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔳⬛️⬛️ 78% 🏁 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

📧 You know all those ‘wrapped’ things we now get for each year - 🎵 📺 probably 🏋️ too, I don’t know 🤷‍♂️- Well, I just received one from… …my online grocery delivery service 😳 …where apparently I’m no.17 buyer of pasta flour in my county. And I did just say earlier I was making 🍕 for dinner, so… 🫤

📬 I like reading indie books. I like playing indie games. So when I saw @debugmag.com “the indie games magazine” on 🦋 I thought I’d order some printed issues to try. I also decided to start at the beginning, because that’s how I roll. And look what arrived in my mail today 😍 🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️

📆 The weekend is confirmed! Make it so, everybody… though I hear there’s something or other occurring next week, maybe perhaps? For me, tonight is probably 🍕 then 🧟 on 📺 Tomorrow is as yet a mystery of possibility 🤷‍♂️

All this talk of Europe divided... of course it is "divided." It is a federal democratic continental sized union. There will always be some division. But it is striking how united it actually it is on the big issues, especially Ukraine, and how much it gets done. The EU is getting stronger.

📬 Some new #BookMail just in from @solarisbooks.bsky.social with @derekkunsken.bsky.social “Pollen From a Future Harvest” ✍️🔢 edition 😯 I saw mention of this just the other day and thought it’d be rude not to, amirite?! 🥹 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋 #DecemberBookHaul 📦

🔊 The one in which we hear that podcast downloads and site visits are both 🆙🙆‍♂️ Go 🫵 I’ve read a couple of these, own another, have a few sat on my wishlist, while a few more are waiting on me to try the author first. 📣 But… Dude! ✍️ Hype!! 🫡 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋 #Podcasts 📻

🔊 The one in which @davevelociraptor.bsky.social mentions CGI being too busy. I was reminded of fast cutting music videos when I want to see band throwing shapes. The RAM price 📈 that I recall was probably during the 90s 🤔 🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻

1️⃣8️⃣ Day 18 of “The Advent of Winter” sees us investigating what turns out to be a winters crime scene in @andrewdmth.bsky.social’s “Before the Snow Melts”. 📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋

This is ridiculous. There clearly has not been a 660% increase in terrorism in the UK over the past year. How much is it costing the criminal justice system to arrest and prosecute all these people for the crime of wearing a t-shirt or holding a placard? news.sky.com/story/terror...