Pullman's Compromise

Advantages: Beautifully presented little snippet of the future, post-His Dark Materials
Disadvantages: Undeniable aftertaste of pointlessness

...Anyone who has read any of my previous ops about books, audio books or children?s books, will have come across copious references to Philip Pullman, and my love of the beautifully crafted His Dark Materials. It is an extraordinary book, published as a trio of intelligent, pacy, fantastical novels: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. If this epic collection has a fault it is, as jillmurphy once suggested to me, that it verges on a polemic against organised religion that involves some gentle brainwashing of its own. I think this is true. But I also think that it is a stunningly written and fascinating exploration of those themes from the point of view of a child pitched on the verge of adulthood. His Dark Materials ended oddly for me. Although it had been a long haul through The Amber Spyglass, and although...

ruth_cole 07.12.2003 · Read review
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Review of Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...monthly fee is £12.99 ? a bargain by the sounds of it? The web site is easy enough to navigate around once you have found your bearings, and the selection of films is great. The company recommend you have at least ten films on your list, which is not hard to choose from the choice available. I do worry a bit about the posting of the films and them getting lost, but the company are understanding in this worry and inform you that they will not charge and send out a new film if they get lost in the post. If you are going away or have a major bill to pay you can freeze your membership for up to 60 days: This is especially handy if you are going on holiday Overall I would recommend DVDs 365 as they are reliable, offer a good choice and a good selection of packages. Thanks for reading - Dave P.S. If you fancy a free trial pop over...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of dvds365.com

Not the old bill

Advantages: Brilliant drama!
Disadvantages: none that I can think of.

...I have watched the Bill on and off since it started. They had improved it by changing from the original format of two ½ hourly episodes a week to two hourly ones now. Then last year they decided to give the whole cast a revamp and get rid of some of the cast that had been there since day one. Some of the cast members that they got rid of I don't miss but they also decided to kill off John Bolton, he was one of my favourite characters, and quite sexy with it. Why am I telling you all about this! Well its the special episodes that are currently being shown that I am actually writing this about but I think you need to know why they are so popular with a lot of people. Its because DS John Bolton was murdered by Don Beech, played by Billy Murray a great actor, and he is now on the run from the police. This series of special episodes...

princesssoapy 06.09.2001 (07.09.2001) · Read review
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Review of The Bill

Pullman reveals the trump card!!!

Advantages: Brilliant end to a brilliant trilogy. Short chapters: ideal stopping places
Disadvantages: Much longer than the others. Very descriptive in the middle.

...A little short of amonth ago, I woke up on Christmas morning and opened my presents. One of these was Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. I had eagerly awaited these (guessing I would get them for Christmas) and tucked into them immediately. The first two in the trilogy, namely 'Northern Lights' and 'The Subtle Knife', leave you thristy for more. Pullman creates a fantastic tale over the course of the trilogy, leaving the reader needing closure. 'The Amber Spyglass' is significantly longer than the first two books, over 500 pages long, and at points in the middle, it seems to drag slightly.I found myself pushing through long descriptive paragraphs without incidences of conversation to break up the monotony. These descriptions were integral to the plot, as is everything, but I felt Pullman was close to going off...

pmcds 21.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of His Dark Materials III: The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman

Bill Bailey Lite

Advantages: occasionally funny, well performed musically with great stage effects
Disadvantages: much of the new material isnt funny, frequently recycles old material

...As a huge fan of Bill Bailey, I had high expectations for 'Tinselworm' after the hilarious 'Part Troll', but Bill's newest dvd left me feeling very disappointed indeed. Bill's career has been going from strength to strength of late, his hard-won and much deserved popularity culminating in this, his latest dvd, in which he takes his latest tour to Wembley for his first arena performance. Inevitably, the intimate feel is lost, and combined with the lukewarm nature of his new material the whole show feels like Bill Bailey dumbed down for the masses. His clever, surreal and often philosophical material doesn't translate well to an arena setting, and his performance often seems forced, as if he is uncomfortable but doing his best to put on a brave face. Much of the material is recycled from his previous shows; a comedic reworking...

Burning_Darkness 12.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bill Bailey - Tinselworm (DVD)

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic DVD-S54

Philip Pullman's Northern Lights

Advantages: Exciting story, told by an obviously imaginative author
Disadvantages: Kids book, so maybe a little restrictive on content in places

...Much has been made of Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. In 2005 it was voted the Cilip Awards best ever book(s). It is a critically acclaimed series, and the focus has come to the fore again with the emergence of 'The Golden Compass', the film adaption of 'Northern Lights', the first in the trilogy. Upon starting the book, I was aware of the criticism of anti-religion Pullman has received for the trilogy. Howev er, this is a work of fiction, and this must not be read into too much. I found that, with letting go and just trusting the author, I found it an extremely good book. The theories are incredibly imaginative, as are the characters and the plot. The book starts with the main character, a 12 year old girl named Lyra Belacqua, hiding in a room forbidden to her. What she overhears and sees then shapes the course of the book, as...

pmcds 09.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) - Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife

Advantages: Continues the amazing story of Northern Lights. Un-put-downable!
Disadvantages: Hard to read as a book on its own Needs to be read after Northern Lights

...The second in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy takes a giant step into cross-world politics, while keeping the story easy enough for kids to follow. The lead character, Lyra Belacqua, is joined in her quest by Will Parry, a boy who, it seems, also has a destiny to fulfill. Meanwhile, the rest of the heroes from the first book split off on other quests, all of which will eventually lead to the same end point. Every now and then, you read a book which gives you a feeling of being involved, that something new and exciting is just around the corner. The Subtle Knife does just this. Some unanswered questions from the first book, Northern Lights, are answered. Yet it also poses new ones, providing new characters and beliefs which once again seem to question anything and everything. It is important to have read Northern...

pmcds 09.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials) - Philip Pullman

The Bill

Advantages: great drama
Disadvantages: none

...The bill is a very good programme, I never miss an episode. It think what makes this programme such a sucess is the attention to detail of the producers and how realistic it is. The actors are also great, many of us wonder what its like to police the country and this programme gives us a great insight even if its not all true as to what it would be like. Continuity is very important and this programme has always kept many of its main characters which helps alot. The viewing public like to see the same old faces telling new jokes and new stories. This is a great show....

pool182 18.09.2000 · Read review
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Review of The Bill

Autobiographical of Wild Bill Hickok

Advantages: Totally awesome, very accurate
Disadvantages: none

...I cannot emphasise just how well done this film is. For anybody that enjoys a decent western movie, this is ideal. This film is a biography of one of the greatest gunfighters to ever descend onto the wild west. Based on the true story and events of James Butler Hickok, otherwise known as Wild Bill Hickok, played magnificently by Jeff Bridges. The movie Incorporates many of the early events in Hickoks life before his violent demise in Deadwood, south Dakota. Because of time limitations in the film, The director gets many of Hickoks exploits over in a very clever way. Hickok has a friend, an English dandy man, called Charley Prince played by John Hurt. Throughout the film Charley is telling stories to people in Saloons etc all about Wild Bill. The Irony is that many time Hickok is actually uncomfortable with this, and he attempts to...

tayloa22 01.09.2007 (02.11.2007) · Read review
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Review of Wild Bill (DVD)