Gods' Game (Matter - Iain M. Banks)

Advantages: vintage M. Banks
Disadvantages: none really

...the face of yearning, longing and loss. Despite the demise of a significant proportion of the major characters, it's entirely satisfactory and not particularly depressing. The spectacular imagination doesn't fail the author, and there is enough material in the Sursamen alone, never mind the whole concept of the Shellworlds, for 5 novels by lesser writers. Less usually, there is quite a lot of explaining in "Matter" - more than I have seen before in Iain M. Banks's novels, and although the tale becomes easier to understand thanks to those little lectures at the beginning, it also loses the suspense of uncertainty, so characteristic of the best Banksian space operas (and mainstream novels too). There are, also, occasionally, a few at least rather wordy paragraphs which could have been safely excised. Still, a pretty riveting read...

magdadh 10.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Matter - Iain M. Banks

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
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Review of dvds365.com

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

?Complicity? by Iain Banks

Advantages: exciting novel
Disadvantages: a lots of graphic sex and violence

...Surprise surprise! This is what I get, among the rest, to translate by my publisher. "Complicity" by Iain Banks, you can imagine my surprise... Iain Banks has a cult status in UK, and his fan club is having fanatic proportions. Bank?s writing career has been both popular and experimental. Cleverly inventive mega-selling Scotsman never suffered for his art. His latest work is slightly less staggering, considered its SF context - since his first, million-selling novel ?The Wasp Factory? in 1984. Now he has settled into a routine of a three months writing per year and taking the rest of the year for his interests in fast cars and fancy technology. Indeed, Bank?s book ?Complicity? is currently being made into a film starring Trainspotting's Sick Boy, Jonny Lee Miller. Banks? only art form is literature. But, as someone who deeply...

barefoot777 30.01.2005 · Read review
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Review of Complicity - Iain Banks

Who needs Snow Patrol when you've got Iain Archer

Advantages: Running In dreams ,summer jets, boy boy boy
Disadvantages: none if you are a fan of this genre

...Iain Archer is an up and coming musician, and has spent periods as a guitarist in the Reindeer Section and Snow Patrol. However it is solo performances where Iain Archer excels, and this, his debut album Flood The Tanks proves to be an emotional hour of music. His style would not look out of place on a Turin Brakes or Doves album with the melodic guitar riff accompanying every song. The album kicks off with Pressure Drop, which is an emotional start to the album, which may be a brave track to begin with, however the bright backing and soft lyrics attract attention. The pace picks up with Running in Dreams, with a louder guitar riff mixed with Archer?s emotional voice to create almost a Placebo-esque sound. The song talks about struggling to break away from repression through dreams. One of the more accomplished songs...

jonty68 27.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Flood The Tanks - Iain Archer

YAMAHA DVD-S 557 this is THE DVD player of all time.

Advantages: Brilliant DVD player, perfect quality
Disadvantages: cant think of any

......

plainpaul 22.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Yamaha DVD-S 557

Wasp Factory, Iain Banks

Advantages: Very clever, lots of suspense, very vivid imagery from text
Disadvantages: very thought provoking at times

......

maav12 11.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

Dead Air- Iain Banks

Advantages: New Iain Banks!!!
Disadvantages: not his best

......

linsta 19.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of Dead Air - Iain Banks

FREE DVDS

Advantages: up to date dvds, four weeks free hire with 3 dvds at a time,
Disadvantages: see review

...My recent quest for FREE DVD hire I visited and many DVD web sites that offered a free trial. Now call me tight (no that wasn?t an invite), but I like bargains and freebies and am not ashamed to say so. My quest took me to enough sites to hire DVDs for about four months so far (with plenty to come too). My latest free DVD site also happens to be the best I have tried for several reasons (see rest of op); the site in question is Blockbuster.co.uk. Other sites that I have had free rentals from and then cancelled have all been similar, two weeks free trial with two DVD?s per time ? which in effect gives you about four free DVD?s. With Blockbuster?s things are different slightly ? which add a great deal of benefit to us the customer. Firstly, you get FOUR whole weeks free rental, which equates to at double the length of time most...

dabmim 18.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of blockbuster.co.uk

DVDs, DIVX, and looks fantastic.

Advantages: DVDs, DIVX, and looks fantastic.
Disadvantages: none

...Before I bought this DVD player Id never really owned a DVD player before. I had however had and still do have a ps2 on which I used to play my DVDs. I never really went and still don’t go on this so much so I was going to sell it and buy a DVD player. In the end I decided to just keep the ps2 and to get a cheaper DVD player than I was looking for in the first place. The main reason why I wanted a new DVD instead of the one in the ps2 was so I could play divx format DVDs on it. The DVD player in a ps2 doesn’t recognise this format and scene as I have several divx movies already on disk and on my laptop to put onto disk then I wanted a DVD player that would recognise and play this format. Another plus to this format is that it saves space on disks as it compresses movies into smaller file sizes without compromising...

techno_man_37 09.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Bush DVD 2054