Advantages: A feisty, funny, memorable heroine plus a great story Disadvantages: It came to an end
wonderfully rounded. They are all given great parts in this busy story and not one is a disappointment. I loved and hated them as necessary.
No way does the story focus totally on Annie's job as a Personal Shopper. You won't find screeds of fashion tips and hints cunningly included within the plot. You will find some, of course, but the theme is certainly not intrusive. We meet a few of Annie's favourite customers and their parts are well written and the interaction between them and Annie is not in any way unnecessary to the story. There's no padding in Ms Reid's writing.
Oh! And I have to tell you that Carmen Reid is also the only author I've read to date who can write a lovemaking scene which is actually delightfully sexy and funny and not at all clinical or mucky.
With lots of love and laughter, a little sadness and a huge ...
Advantages: Smooth voiced protagonists, nice sound Disadvantages: Slightly tame Escamillo, maybe lacking in some french style
Arguably the best recording of Carmen in the past 30 years. Teresa Berganza has a smooth and warm voice here, rather darker than Victoria de los Angeles (Thomas Beecham conducts, EMI) but smoother and lighter than Maria Callas (Georges Pretre conducts, EMI) and Regine Resnik (Schippers conducts, Decca). Her performance is similarly balanced - dramatic without being too vampish and with that sultry latin quality (a little bit lacking in Victoria de los Angeles in my opinion). She sings with greater precision in the runs and leaps than Resnik and her voice seems like balm after the altogether different instrument of Maria Callas (even at the later's best she growls rather more than Berganaza which you either love or hate). Placido Domingo is a king amongst recent Don Joses on record. Jose Carreras with Karajan may bring more passion to ...
operalover2000 04.04.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bizet: Carmen
Advantages: A great all round soap for anyone Disadvantages: None
This is, without a doubt, my all-time favourite Lush soap. And it was my very first Lush soap, too! There I was, in a virgin Lush shower with Miranda and I was having such a fantastic shower, all because of a piece of soap! Needless to say my boyfriend thought i'd gone mad, as he said and I quote "its only a soap". Oh no my friend, its not just a soap its a Miranda soap!
Originally named Carmen Miranda (the singer from the 70s, who dressed in very elaborate head- gear made of fruit. She was as famous for her singing as she was for her fruity head dresses) it was created as a big soap "pie" decorated with huge pieces of carved soap fruit on top. Truly, it was nothing short of a work of art. But then it was briefly discontinued, reformulated, and returned as Miranda, a white to light green soap with the fruit now being stirred into ...
