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

The Richness of Life - Stephen Jay Gould

Advantages: Wide range of topics covered, largely accessible and entertaining
Disadvantages: Occasionally overly academic

...The Richness of Life - Stephen Jay Gould Steven Jay Gould was one of America's most prominent experts on palaeontology and evolutionary biology. A prolific writer he produced many books, papers and articles from the 1960's up to his death in 2002. A teacher at Harvard University he published several academic books but also worked prodigiously to popularise science through a number of more accessible works and the impressive achievement of delivering 300 unbroken articles for the magazine Natural History. In some ways considered to be America's answer to Richard Dawkins, the pair shared a passion for Darwin and evolutionary theory but famously came to academic blows over a number of issues where their theories came into conflict. Through the 80's and 90's they traded blows through articles and reviews of each others work but...

brereton66 11.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Richness of Life - Stephen Jay Gould

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

Jay-Z takes a tumble

Advantages: Some strong songs, some moments of lyricism
Disadvantages: Too driven for a pop market, corny hooks

...After bursting on to the scene and turning heads with Reasonable Doubt, (see previous review of mine) this second album came in the aftermath of the killing of Notorious BIG who was a close friend to Jay-Z. However that did not derail Jay-Z from progressing and he quickly released this which was to be his second studio album. The production on this album which unlike his previous album, has much more of a mainstream appeal to it and seems apparent that it was very much a focused effort to garner more sales by appealing to a much wider audience. This is apparent from the style of the production to some soft hooks. In fact this presentation is prevalent throughout the album and is immediately quite a contrast to the previous one. Unfortunately the production isn't the only change as the lyrics have also had a mainstream makeover...

grandchamp 30.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of In My Lifetime - Jay-Z

Jay Comes Close To Equalling Reasonable Doubt

Advantages: Jay at his best, great production on most tracks
Disadvantages: Couple of weak tracks produced by Pharrell

...The Black Album is the 2003 Jay-Z album that was promoted as the final studio album Jay-Z would ever make. The rap and general music world alike were a buzz at the time at the thought of such a musician quitting when he was at his peak of popularity. Fortunately like many other rappers who announce their retirement Jay was back releasing solo albums by 2006. The album debuted at #1 on the American album charts, sold over 463,000 copies in its first week, has gone platinum and sold well over 4m since. The a cappella version of this album was released for the world's DJ's to use with 2 famous examples - the 8 track 'Brown Album' by rapper Kev Brown, and 'the Grey Album' mixed by Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley band member and producer) which featured Jay's raps over The Beatles 'White Album'. It worked surprisingly well but caused...

Mcicp1981 02.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Black Album, The [ECD] - Jay-Z

A must for any Jay-Z/rap fans

Advantages: Jay-Z at his best, fantastic prodcution throughout
Disadvantages: None for me, suppose some people may be offended by the language used at times

...The Blueprint is Jay-Z's (real name Shawn Carter) sixth studio album released on September 11th, 2001. The album sold 426,000 in its first week despite the tragedy on its release date, it was Jay's 4th consecutive album to go straight to the top of the album charts in America, and has since gone platinum. Many people view this album as Jay's best work but few realise this album was produced in the studio within 2 weeks, while it only took Jay-Z a reported 2 days to write all the lyrics, helped by the fact the man has a photographic memory and doesn't need to write lyrics down, so there was bounded to be some he already had in there. An album full of perfectly picked and very soulful samples, the Blueprint would mark a shift in Jay's style to a much more melodic and thought out production, something he would return to time and time...

Mcicp1981 19.10.2008 (04.02.2009) · Read review
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Review of Blueprint Vol.1, The [PA] - Jay-Z

Jay Sean... Who Is He????

Advantages: fantastic album
Disadvantages: -

...Now for some reason I am really getting into R & B just lately. IN one of my recent reviews I referred to a R & B album being possibly the first and last that I may ever buy, well that has changed and overnight I seem to have become quite fond of this kind of music, someone has obviously influenced me, but I can't think who. Jay Sean, a couple of weeks ago, if someone mentioned his name to me I wouldn't have had a clue who he was, possibly an actor, singer maybe, I would have been oblivious to who he was, however his album has now found it prized place in my ever increasing collection of R & B music. Jay Sean, is a British Indian singer, originally born as Kamaljit Singh Jhooti. Although I had never heard of him before he has actually released two albums in which My Own Way is the second album. Majority of the tracks that have been...

blondgem 11.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of My Own Way - Jay Sean

Gardener's Pocket Bible by Roni Jay

Advantages: They DID fit a quart in a pint pot!
Disadvantages: Not a single one

...The Gardener's Pocket Bible, by Roni Jay, is an excellent little book. It is a little bit bigger than average pocket size, but would probably fit quite snugly inside the leg pocket of a pair of cargo trousers! The book is 178 pages in length and is described by Roni Jay as a collaborative effort between Roni Jay, her mum and dad, Jill and Tony, their friend Will, who is a professional gardener, Laurie Taylor (he was the proof-reader, I think) and James Belsey, to whom she also dedicated the book. There was also a poorly fax machine who helped in the proceedings. With that cast of six (leaving the fax machine out of this, for the moment!) one might expect this book to be a sort of camel of a gardening book, you know, the elderly joke about a camel being a horse designed by a committee? Not a bit of it! The book is eminently...

Martinscholes 21.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Gardener's Pocket Bible - Roni Jay

The Cook's Pocket Bible by Roni Jay

Advantages: An even better book than you could expect
Disadvantages: Not a single one

...The Cook's Pocket Bible by Roni Jay is an ideal size to fit in the large pocket of an apron, as the book is 174 pages in length. The book is edited by Richard Craze and Roni thanks her dad for helping her with the wine section, for, as she points out, she has a "lack of enthusiasm for drinking fine wines." She also thanked chef Matthew Lamb (cool name for a chef, don't you think?) for his help in reading through the entire manuscript, and adding some clever tips of his own. Roni Jay is a rarity in my opinion, as she is the kind of writer who acknowledges the great and invaluable help from a variety of people who usually never get a mention from other authors of "how to books" who like to pretend that they "did all the work on the book myself." The book is nicely laid out. It starts with the all-important charts and tables...

Martinscholes 22.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Cook's Pocket Bible - Roni Jay

American Gangster: Jay-Z remembers where he came from

Advantages: A worthy conceptual reprise; Potent and focused Jay-Z rhymes
Disadvantages: A half hearted and inconsistent attempt at a "concept" album

...I have been here before... I remember being the guy who was semi-ridiculed by my buddies when I said I felt Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt was a cinematic concept album about the mafioso lifestyle. Others thought I was over-doing it a bit, but I think they fail to actually sit there and intently listen to the album and understand that every chapter is a different phase or aspect of the mafioso kingpin lifestyle. Each song told a story. Flash forward to 2009. When I first heard that Jay-Z's American Gangster was a concept album based on the film, I contemplated the magnitude of impact that the Denzell Washington film really had on the man. Jay saw parallels between his pre-rap activities and those of the film's main protagonist Frank Lucas, a real life heroin smuggler and gangster from New York. It's quite ironic to me that the same rap...

bigdiship-hop 12.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of American Gangster (Parental Advisory) [PA] - Jay-Z