Boyd's Void

Advantages: Good read which is more than just a story
Disadvantages: None

...The curiously named "Armadillo" is William Boyd's eighth novel. Born in Ghana and brought up there and in Nigeria, Boyd has had a successful career as a novelist, short-story and screenplay writer and as a journalist. His novels have won critical and popular acclaim. The Ice-Cream War was nominated for the Booker Prize and the superb Restless won the Costa (previously Whitbread) Award for Best Novel in 2006. What is "Armadillo" about? Boyd helpfully gives us a pointer that small, scaly animals are not necessarily going to be involved by providing a frontispiece to the novel proper where he defines the origin of armadillo as being from Spanish "diminutive of armado armed man, so literally 'little armed man'". Actually it is not a pointer, it is a whacking big clue to understanding the main character, Lorimer Black. It seems a strange...

JoePoirot 04.04.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Armadillo - William Boyd

Best Of Billie

Advantages: Great tracks, loads of emotion packed inside!
Disadvantages: Not so much tracks from her first album

...A jam-packed CD full of unique tracks from an amazing artist! ***** Billie Paul Piper was born in 1982 in Swindon. Since she was tiny, she dreamed of performing and attended various dance classes and drama groups! When she was 13, she won a place in Sylvia Young Drama School and stayed there in London. When she was 15, she was given the opportunity of a lifetime! Innocent Record Company offered her a record deal! Without hesitating, Billie jumped at the chance, and became a new face for music - a young, lively, bubbly teen! Billie's first single, 'Because We Want To', went straight to number one - a massive achievement! Following that, Billie had several other fantastic hits and a great album, 'Honey To the Bee'. Billie promoted this album by going on tour, then taking a short break afterwards. When her break was over, Billie...

Amy69 05.06.2007 (17.06.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Best Of Billie, The - Billie Piper

FREE DVDs

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

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of dvds365.com

Billy Madison review

Advantages: Stupidly funny!
Disadvantages: Not very original

...Billy Madison is another comedy film starring the as yet unknown at the time Adam Sandler. It was made in 1995 when Sandler was still on Saturday Night Live. Adam Sandler plays the titular character; he's 27 and the son of Bryan Madison (Darren McGavin), a very rich hotel magnate. So he has never worked a day in his life and doesn't know the true meaning of money as everything is just given to him. But Bryan is retiring, and is torn about whether to give it to Billy or to Eric Gordon (Bradley Whitford), a slimy co-worker at Madison Hotels. So Billy strikes a deal with his dad: he will go through each school grade and pass their exams in a short period of time in order for him to become the head of the company. If he fails, it goes to Gordon. And if that isn't enough pressure, he gets heckled at school, goofs off as much as he can...

Walter_Kovacs 15.01.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Billy Madison (DVD)

BILLY BOMBS

Advantages: Mostly new material
Disadvantages: Not the standard you would expect

...Billy Connolly Live in New York . " Too Old To Die Young " 2005 Tour Certificate 15 Running time 1 hour 32 minutes Produced by Universal , filmed at the Town Hall New York Format DVD THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE SHOW FEATURED ON THE DVD ONLY , AND NOT THE EXTRAS " After three decades of touring the USA this is Billy Connolly's first concert filmed in America in February 2005 " I received this DVD as a Christmas gift from my daughter after much hinting and hoping , and sure enough there it was , under the Christmas tree , wrapped and ready to go . Despite my impatience I deliberately didn't watch it on that day as we were so busy , and I wanted to set aside some time when I could sit uninterrupted and just enjoy Billy's unique style of philosophy based humour . I have every video and DVD that he has ever released...

Janej47 29.12.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Billy Connolly - Live In New York (DVD)

Billy Madison - My appraisal

Advantages: Steve Buscemi cameo, Bridgette Wilson (delightful)
Disadvantages: More or less everythingabout the film!

...Having had mixed views on Sandler films in the past, I was flicking through the sky movies channels (as i so often do) on friday night and stumbled across 'Billy Madison'. Billy Madison is a comedy film made in 1995 which is directed by Tamra Davis. The film is co-written by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and the film is produced by Universal Pictures. So what is it all about? ------------------------------ When Brian Madison (Darren McGavin) makes a decision to retire from the hotel chain that he owns, it would seem that the logical choice would be to hand down the business to his only son, Billy (Adam Sandler). The problem is that Billy just so happens to be a complete delinquent that has absolutely not concept of how to look after himself, let alone a multi-million dollar company. After Billy makes a mockery of his father...

shanediablo 11.08.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Billy Madison (DVD)

Billy Elliot

Advantages: Sad but uplifting, good actors
Disadvantages: A bit too depressing for some

...Billy Elliot was not the sort of film I liked, and when my sister bought it on DVD, I moaned about her crap choice in films, but she insisted it was actually very good, as she saw it at the cinema when it came out a few years ago. I sat down and watched it grumpily later that night, expecting it to be patronising, contrived sugary sweet rubbish. I was so wrong! I vaguely knew that Billy Elliot was the story of a boy, of the same name, who aspired to be a ballet dancer in 1980's England, but that was it. A film about an 11 year-old ballet dancer? Not interested at all! Anyway, the storyline: Billy Elliot is living with his father, brother and grandmother in County Durham, during the miner strikes of the 1980's, on a council estate. His dad and brother are heavily involved in the strikes, so they don't have much money, and his dad...

jeszikca 30.04.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Billy Elliot (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
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Panasonic DVD-S54

Timeless Album by Billy Joel

Advantages: Great songs
Disadvantages: None

...Last night I was cleaning my CD rack and I tried to rearrange my CD's. I noticed this 52nd Street album of Billy Joel. I realized that I haven't played it for such a long time. As this album is one of my favorites, I played it and I was again mesmerized by most of the songs. Tracks Listing 1. Big Shot 4:05 2. Honesty 3:53 3. My Life 4:44 4. Zanzibar 5:10 5. Stiletto 4;44 6. Rosalinda's Eyes 4:40 7. Half A Mile 4:09 8. Until The Night 6:36 9. 52nd Street 2:26 About Each Track Big Shot Because you had to be a big shot, didn't you? You had to open up your mouth You had to be a big shot, didn't you? This track has a Billy Joel trademark with overpowering exhibition of guitars. I always love it when he sings the line 'big shot' with great enthusiasm. This song never bores me. Billy sings this song with full energy...

browndoll 03.09.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of 52nd Street [ECD] [Remastered] - Billy Joel

Growing Pains - Billie Piper (paperback)

Advantages: Full of emotion and feeling, plenty of detail...
Disadvantages: Hard to put down, can draw tears to the eyes

...MY STORY Christmas last year, I received the hardback copy of Growing Pains, and read it almost instantly! Taking me a few weeks, I enjoyed every word of the book, and was devastated when I reached the end! Then earlier this year, I heard that a paper-back copy of Billie's autobiography was in the process of being published. I 'ummed' and 'aahed' for quite a while, considering preordering it on Amazon. But I was unaware of the exact month it was to be released in the shops, so I just waited a while. Then I came across paperback Growing Pains in WHSmith mid-August, priced at £6.99. I didn't really want to pay that, so I decided to pick up a copy and have a quick 'flick'. It was then that I noticed it had been fully updated, with a few pages based on Treats (more about this later). Well, that was it for me! I was pushing myself...

Amy69 06.06.2007 (17.09.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Growing Pains - Billie Piper