David Cook

Advantages: Current American Idol winner, a musician
Disadvantages: None

...This...... is the current American Idol Winner. David Cook is the American Idol that nearly never was. He actually was not initially going to try out for the television talent show, he was at the auditions to support his brother but, after some pushing from his brother, decided to audition too. A good decision, because he became the winner of the seventh season of American Idol in 2008. David Cook is classified as a Rock, singer-songwriter. His sound is definitely very rocky, but in my opinion quite soft rock. He has a very deep, raspy voice that lends itself very well to this type of music. What I really like about him is that he can actually play an instrument, unlike a lot of the new pop stars out there today who are just manufactured. He plays the guitar and actually used it quite a lot when he was performing on Idol. If you look...

Spottydog11 05.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of David Cook - David Cook

Charlie Wilson's Fight for Afghanistan

Advantages: Great Acting, excellent story
Disadvantages: Some sad scenes of the Afghan suffering

...Charlie Wilson's War is a film which I had been undecided about for a few weeks so I finally took the plunge and bought it. I think the deciding factor was that it stared Tom Hanks and Julie Roberts, both of which I like. The film features Charlie Wilson, played by Tom Hanks who is a party loving Congress man. He is good friends with Joanne who is a rich Socialite, played by Julia Roberts. Joanne manages to talk Charlie into looking at the troubles in Afghanistan where they are being invaded by the Russians. Charlie goes and sees the troubles first hand and is shocked at what he finds. He does agree to help Joanne by getting the weapons and ammunition which they need to defend their country. To do this Charlie is helped by a CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos and soon finds he needs to persuade the Congress to give them large amounts of money...

sewbizzie 02.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Charlie Wilson's War (DVD)

Wilson tries 'gothic' but loses the element of surprise

Advantages: realistic, mildly enjoyable
Disadvantages: predictable, dramatic event too sudden and unresolved

...This is the first Jacqueline Wilson book I have tried reading (as part of shadowing the ?Berkshire Book Award? and I have to admit that it was better than I?d anticipated. Wilson is famous for writing amazingly popular stories for young children, around 10-13, and has been honoured with many of the UK?s top awards for children?s books. She was also the Children?s Laureate for 2005-7 and was awarded an OBE in 2002. Obviously I was aware of her popularity, but I was convinced that her books were over-hyped, dull and simplistic. (These are the same reasons why I have never read any of the Harry Potter books.) ?My Sister Jodie? tells the story of two very different sisters: Pearl is shy/reserved and her sister Jodie is much more confident with a flair for getting in to trouble. The story is told from Pearl?s perspective, but Jodie...

brokenangelkisses 28.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of My Sister Jodie - Jacqueline Wilson

Charlie Wilson's War - Sheer Brilliance

Advantages: Engrossing, clever, an eye-opener.
Disadvantages: none

...Director: Mike Nichols Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin Book: George Crile Genre: Biography - Drama Country: USA Certification: 15+ Language: English Released: 5th May, 2008 (DVD) MAIN CAST: Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson) Amy Adams (Bonnie Bach) Julia Roberts (Joanne Herring) Philip Seymour Hoffman (Gust Avrakotos) In the early 1980's, the USA was smack in the middle of a cold war with Russia. While The USA was keeping a close watch on Russia's growing army and tensions were at there highest, the Russians invaded Afghanistan in an attempt to enrich themselves with the country's crude oil. Because Afghanistan did not have an acting army, it was down to the people to defend themselves against the Russians... not an easy task considering that they didn't have the necessary weapons to fight. With the Russians...

GoFigure 27.05.2008 · Read review
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Twin Tales by Jacqueline Wilson

Advantages: Great reading for all the family of all ages
Disadvantages: NA

...and suddenly Connie can swim like a mermaid. Jacqueline Wilson started working as a publisher and then went on to work as a journalist for D.C Thomson in Scotland where she heard and found JACKIE magazine. She has wrote THE STORY OF TRAY BAKER, THE SUITCASE KID, DOUBLE ACT, BAD GIRLS, THE DARE GAME, VICKY ANGEL, THE ILLUSTRATED MUM, DUSTBIN BABY, SECRETS, THE WORRY EBSITE, LOLA ROSE, MIDNIGHT, BEST FRIENDS, THE DIAMOUND GIRLS and CLEAN BREAK. Jacqueline has won several awards including the smarties prize,the sheffield childrens book award and the childrens book award. In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded an OBE for services to literacy, 2004 it was announced by the PLR that she was now the most borrowed author from public libraries in the UK, tipping off Catherine Cookson off the top spot after she was therefor 17 years. May 2005 Wilson was announced as...

Mazzy3 23.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Twin Tales - Jacqueline Wilson

Mari Wilson -The Platinum Collection

Advantages: First time on cd for many tracks
Disadvantages: pastiche agenda limits wider appeal

...Slightly more worthy than her solitary hit "Just What i Always Wanted "suggests,provided its approached and enjoyed as pure pastiche and indulgent nostalgic enjoyment,even in 1982 Mari Wilson was portrayed as nostalgic ,her 15 minuteds of fame arriving at the tail end of a post punk mod revival,the whole concept relied on and evoked an age that never quite was,stylish lyrics ,glamorous outfits and a showband mentality that recalled the glory days of The Supremes ,Lulu and Sandie Shaw all put together on a shoestring budget inSouth London at the turn of the eighties initially as a very appealing live draw along the lines of Paul Youngs Q-Tips with a little less sweat. The aforementioned hit single is fairly representative of the rest of this fantastically priced collection and its a minor mystery how she didnt achieve at least half...

terriano 26.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Platinum Collection, The - Mari Wilson

David Tua, Hard hitting

Advantages: Hits hard, brilliant chin
Disadvantages: Pretty unskilled

...David Tua, arguably one of the best current boxers never to have held a "proper" world title (WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO) and most certainly one of the most entertaining of the current crop of heavyweights (not saying much I admit). -*-Early days-*- Born Mafaufau Tavita Lio Mafaufau Sanerivi Talimatasi (according to wikipedia anyway) the man we know as David Tua was born in Samoa to a man and a woman (who'se names I do not know). At an early age he moved to New Zealand and thats where he picked up boxing. -*-Amateur days-*- As an amateur Tua quickly rose through the national ranks becoming a champion in 1988 (at a juniour level I think) in the heavyweight category. 4 Years later he proved he was pretty good as a "man" (as opposed to a huge 15 year old "boy") winning a bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics fighting at the -91 KG category...

iamasadlittleboy 09.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of David Tua

I think Laura Wilson is my new best friend

Advantages: A completely absorbing read
Disadvantages: None

...If you enjoy a good psychological crime novel that is written, well I am sure that, like me, you will really enjoy this book - My Best Friend by Laura Wilson. This is the third book written by Ms Wilson, and while crime novels aren't my favourite genre, I found this a remarkably well-written and absorbing book. This book is very unusual in the fact that it has three first person narrators as well diary entries from over fifty years ago and also includes excerpts from children's books. This sounds on first hearing that the book will be messy and hard to follow but Laura Wilson manages to integrate all these elements together into a dark, heart-rending story of a dysfunctional British family over a period of fifty years. The book takes place during and after World War Two and features two sisters, one a children's author...

oldchem 24.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of My Best Friend - Laura Wilson

Another Great Singer from American Idol (David Cook - David Cook)

Advantages: Great album from start to finish most of which David had a hand in writing
Disadvantages: None

...I am a very big fan of the reality TV shows, X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and most of all American Idol, I think these show are a great way of giving people the chance to make it. I think American Idol seems to produce some incredible talent, it seems each year they have that one person who you know is going to make it big, for example Kelly Clarkson (who I am a massive fan of) and now David Cook (winner of season seven in 2008). From the very first show I loved the sound of David Cooks voice, it just had a completely different sound from the other contestants and he made every song his own, he didn't seem bothered about how big a song was, he would change it to suit him, sometimes it didn't work but most the time it did and it was amazing. After he won the show I thought that I would get his album as soon as it was released but then...

soutram 14.08.2009 · Read review
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About the bookaholic Jaqueline Wilson!!!

Advantages: She is a fantastic auther and her books are amazing
Disadvantages: You will be hooked on her books for ever!!!

...Jaqueline Wilson was more than a fortnight late for birth.She was due for the beggining of December but arrived on the 17th of December 1945.And when she finaly was born her mouth was caught on forceps that were trying to pull her out.So when she was born her mouth was lopsided and partly parilised. When she was still a child she read non stop her favorite books were Nancy Plum and Adventures with Rosalind. And her favorite authers were Enid Blyton,Eve Garnett and Pamela Brown.But her all time favorite auther was Noel streatfield. As she got older she wrote around about 84 books and probably her most succsesful book was Tracy Beaker who even made it to get her own program. My top two books wrote by her are Kiss and My sister Jodie. Both are sad in parts as most of Jaqueline Wilsons books are.She has even wrote a book about he...

blossom11 31.07.2008 · Read review
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