Lovely Lumley

Advantages: Gorgeous setting, great service, great food
Disadvantages: None... well, maybe the price!

...In the run up to my husband's 40th birthday last year I was repeatedly warned that I wasn't to arrange any form of celebration - no party, no balloons, no embarrassing picture in the local newspaper, no banners hanging in our town's marketplace. No, if I wanted to still be married the day after his fortieth, I was advised to completely forget that it was his birthday at all. Of course, I couldn't do that and in the weeks before I began searching for somewhere we could go for the night that would be a bit special but not too far from home. After extensive research... ok then, asking a few friends, it appeared that place was Lumley Castle Hotel. Lumley Castle Hotel is a 14th Century Castle, named after its creator, Sir Ralph Lumley. It is situated in the town of Chester-le-Street, near Durham in Co. Durham and is situated very...

chocaholic110 19.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Lumley Castle Hotel, Durham

Yarn and Glue: Joanna Newsom

Advantages: She yodels, plays a damn fine piece of harp, but isn't actually a weirdo
Disadvantages: She yodels, she plays a damn fine piece of harp?

...Yarn and Glue: Joanna Newsom Every year when the music awards are given out, there is always one artist who you've never heard of; someone who has garnered critical acclaim, but yet hasn't broken into the popular subconscious. Joanna Newsom is a fine example of this brand of artist. With the release of her second album proper 'Ys' (pronounced "ees") in 2006, her name quickly became tossed around in musical circles as being someone it was clever to like. She made her way into several 'best of' lists for the year, and has been nominated for several major awards, all without her music getting a single piece of airplay, so it seemed. How come such a loved artist has never managed to make it onto the radio? In Newsom's case, there is a simple answer: she's a harpist. Born in the 1980's within the confusingly named Nevada City...

Seresecros 04.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of Joanna Newsom

In Search Of "The Tricky Lady"

Advantages: Beautiful scenery and excellent production.
Disadvantages: None

...If you were unlucky enough to miss the recent television documentary featuring Joanna Lumley, who fulfilled a lifelong ambition to visit the Land of the Northern Lights, then you may enjoy the DVD which has been made of her journey. Available from Amazon for £10.88 this is, in my opinion, a treasure. Recently I posted one off to one of my daughters who not only loves Joanna Lumley but also shares my fascination with this part of the world. The front cover of this DVD sets the scene. Joanna stands there puffed up in layers of clothing against a background of glaciers. These paint the horizon in a glistening polar white. We are told at one point in the DVD that it's not exactly what she would wear to the Oscars! Growing up in tropical Malaysia Joanna had always had a dream of visiting the "Arctic North". She had a little...

Violet1278 17.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Joanna Lumley In The Land Of Northern Lights (DVD)

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

Joanna

Advantages: *
Disadvantages: *

......

Hirudo 10.06.2007 (30.10.2007) · Read review
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Review of Joanna Newsom

Listen Now to Joanna MacGregor

Advantages: MacGregor's chameleon-like arrangements render every piece interesting, appealing.
Disadvantages: She remains in obscurity in the US.

...demanded royalties for use of Cage's four-and-a-half minutes of *silence*, a situation I found extremely hilarious for its absurdity about the ownership of silence. (For the story, see end of article for link.) I myself have been hardly curious about contemporary music--until recently, that is, thanks to the tireless efforts of progressive, innovative, classically-trained (Oxford) British pianist Joanna MacGregor (b. 1959). The doors to new music have been flung wide for this listener. As have those to jazz, fusion, ethnic and world music?the kinds that don't necessarily make it to your Putumaya world music discs--and take up negligible space in the classical music racks. Released on SoundCircus in 2001, PLAY represents the wide-ranging musical interests of the pianist, and what a fascinating and broad selection are they! From...

zerbine28 17.10.2003 · Read review
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Review of Play - Joanna MacGregor

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

Once bitten, forever smitten

Advantages: Gripping storyline, great characters, a brilliant twist on conventional vampires
Disadvantages: If you get hooked, there are a lot of sequels to get through... not that I consider that a disadvantage myself

...Having been a fan of several horror writers, I've found myself in the horror section of book shops many times. On many such occasions I noticed Brian Lumley's Necroscope series occupying a fair bit of shelf space. Eventually I was curious enough to look further than the black covers with their lurid pictures of skulls and tentacles and read the blurb. Sufficiently intrigued, I bought the first in the series and there began my love affair with this, the best selling series of one of Britain's finest horror writers. Thereafter, I bought the series two at a time? That was a few years ago and, with the release of the final instalment in the series after a lengthy break, I find myself doing something I almost never do - re-reading not just one book, but the entire series. So, whilst I'm about it, I may well review them as I go. PLOT...

baalzamon 13.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of Necroscope - Brian Lumley

TFI Friday

Advantages: True Joanna Trollope fans will love it no doubt
Disadvantages: A slow book with unmemorable characters

...INTRODUCTION I have to admit to mixed feelings about Joanna Trollope's work - I can take it or leave it most of the time. Another admission I have to make is because, strange person as I am, I love Anthony Trollope's books and Joanna is distantly related to the Victorian novelist - this is the reason I first picked up one of her books. Right that's my confessions done with for this review!! Ms Trollope's books tend to be based on upper class family dramas and romances, that are generally full of mistresses, widows, lonely wives and divorcees, but occasionally she also includes some phsycology into her work. Trollope also writes historical novels under the name Caroline Harvey. Joanna Trollope's books very often tend to explore a paticular issue, and Friday Nights is no exception - in this book the issue that is...

oldchem 31.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Friday Nights - Joanna Trollope

An empty nest

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...his girlfriend Naomi is devoted to her mother and he is very much an outsider. Edie has a sister, Vivien who is separated from her no god husband Max. Her only son is living in Australia and she rarely sees him. Vivien is clearly still in love with Max and is only too happy to give him another chance when he tries to rekindle the marriage. The relationship between Edie and her sister is strained. Into the story comes Rosas best friend Kate a new mother. Kate is besotted with her new baby and dreading having to return to work. I am not going to give away any more of the plot as I don?t want to spoil things if you are planning to read the book. The author. ********* Joanna Trollop is the mother of 2 daughters and stepmother to 2 stepsons. She was educated at Oxford University and has been writing novels for over 30 years. She has...

anwar 22.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Second Honeymoon - Joanna Trollope