CITY-TRIPPING (Starfishing - Nicola Monaghan)

Advantages: fun story, believable voice, great ending
Disadvantages: silly and unnecessary "secret"

......

magdadh 23.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Starfishing - Nicola Monaghan

Knickerless in Bruges!

Advantages: A good small and friendly hotel with excellent service. Great location too!
Disadvantages: Steep (very) stairs to bedrooms.

...During our recent trip to Belgium we stayed in Bruges. We had never stayed there before and, when planning the trip, didn?t know any hotels to base our decision on which to pick on. Our group was quite large (there were to be 17 of us in total) so we needed a decent sized place, but not in a huge and impersonal hotel. We also wanted to be well located in the centre of Bruges, but not too far away from the railway station (or at least easy to get to by public transport). So the criteria was small(ish), friendly, clean, good location, decent breakfast, good transport links and not too expensive. Were we asking too much? Our trip organiser (who was also in charge of transport) had a scout around and came up with the Hotel Nicolas. ~~~WHERE IS IT? The Hotel Nicolas can be found at 9 Niklaas Desparsstraat in the centre of Bruges...

tange 06.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Hotel Nicolas, Bruges

Another Bad Hair day for Nicolas Cage

Advantages: good special Effects
Disadvantages: Not a very original plot

...For someone who doesn't like Nicolas Cage I seem to have been to the cinema to see all of his latest films over the last twelve months. Probably because when one of his films is showing at the cinema every billboard and tram stop is adorned with his wide eyes, badly drawn mug, and hair do and there is no escape. Having seen some of the trailers for Knowing, I had a pretty good idea what the film was going to be about. For the first 30 minutes my assumptions were correct but then I was a little surprised at what followed next. Some threads of the film wandered off in directions that left me totally bemused. My advice is try not to see any trailers and you will enjoy this mentally taxing piece of conjectural fiction from Alex Proyas a lot more. It is the year of 1959 and a school teacher is in her classroom asking her pupils to use...

Praski 26.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Knowing

The Nicolas Cage of crisps

Advantages: I like them
Disadvantages: They aren't very filling

...The name's Walker. Henry Walker licenced to.. kill (sell crisps). The mission began back in 1948 after rationing made potato crips a popular idea. Forget Gary Lineker, I am the man. It is estimated that eleven million people will eat a Walkers product every day. Glancing at the website (www.walkers.co.uk) the sight of a 1980's packet of Salt and Vinegar has me brimming over with nostalgia. Ahhhh. Play time. Now let's get to the crunch of the matter... bad jokes aside . I love Quavers. Yes indeedy I do. Quavers are Walkers best selling snack (see I do have taste) and have been around for over thirty years. Tasty and over thirty.... ummm that reminds me of Nicolas Cage. They are available in three flavours , Original Cheese, Prawn Cocktail (bleuggggghh)and Salt and Vinegar. But I avoid the hybrids and stick to the lovely original...

Glorificus1 17.05.2002 (05.11.2002) · Read review
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Review of Walkers Quavers Cheese Flavour

Open Wide

Advantages: Robust, fascinating, different...
Disadvantages: Wierd, unhelpful, demanding...

...I don?t want to offend anybody who was born and raised on the Isle of Sheppey, but well, it?s a rather odd place isn?t it? Due I?m sure, to the fact that there is only one road attaching Sheppey to the mainland there have been jokes in the Kentish area about gene pools and bottoms of barrels for as long as I can remember. Yet if you ever risk the journey into this most defensive of communities you might be surprised. The landscape is rather sparse, rather windswept, blasted and rather well, beautiful in a melancholy kind of way. I think it is singly the oddest, most interesting and most lonesome place in England. ***************************************************** Never underestimate the importance of the physical landscape of a novel. Nicola Barker chose to set her novel ?Wide Open? in Sheppey for good reason...

Kirsty1 01.09.2003 (07.09.2003) · Read review
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Review of Wide Open - Nicola Barker

Go Crazy With This Chameleon

Advantages: Teaches children about colours
Disadvantages: none

...***Background*** Nicola Grant is a new author to me and the only other book that I can find that she has written is called Don't Be So Nosy, Posy! Her books appear to be aimed at nursery or early school age children and in this one she teams up with illustrator Michael Terry who has provided the pictures for lots of other animal stories, including Here Comes The Crocodile by Kathryn White. ***The Story*** The story starts with an upset Chameleon. "'Bother!' he said crossly. "I'm sitting on yellow flowers so I should be yellow. But look at me - I'm red!'" He tries hopping and walking on different surfaces with different colours, but each time he changes to something completely different. He turns to his friends, Meercat and Monkey for some help and tells them he is worried in case lion comes along and eats him...

belfin 30.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Chameleon's Crazy Colours - Nicola Grant

Dig It. Don't Dump It.

Advantages: Shows children different types of vehicles
Disadvantages: none

...***Background*** Every week at nursery my son gets the chance to go to the school library and pick out a book for himself. Normally he comes home with a storybook so I was more than a bit surprised when he brought this picture book home. Nicola Tuxworth is responsible for a large number of this type of book and they range from cute and cuddly puppies to more practical subjects like food. One thing that links them though, is that all the pictures in them are prints of photographs so we see real objects and children throughout. ***The Content*** As you might have guessed this book is full of vehicles. But it is more than just diggers and dumpers. It starts by introducing your child to a crane. "Cranes can lift things high up into the air. I need to move these bricks. Up it goes! Wheeee! crane" This format...

belfin 06.02.2007 · Read review
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Review of Diggers and Dumpers - Nicola Tuxworth

Nicolas Is No Saint

Advantages: Nicolas Cage.
Disadvantages: A bit "soppy".

...If you, like me, cannot let a Christmas season pass without viewing the classic ?feel-good? movie, ?It?s A Wonderful Life? starring James Stewart, then you will probably want to see, and most likely enjoy, this latest offering from director Brett Ratner, ?The Family Man?. Starring that current darling of Hollywood studios, Nicolas Cage, and co-starring Tea Leoni, the plot of this film is very similar in nature to ?It?s A Wonderful Life?. Jack (Nicolas Cage) is the man who has it all. Having left his girlfriend Kate for a job in London, with a promise to return, (which he does not keep) Jack goes on to become the very picture of success as a high-powered investment banker. He has all the luxuries that money can buy. The Ferrari, the penthouse suite, the Gold Cards, and has glamorous women falling over themselves to climb into his...

the_mad_cabbie 29.12.2000 · Read review
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Review of The Family Man (DVD)

nicolas cage fan anyone ?

Advantages: cage x 2 great performances great script
Disadvantages: kinda weird, third act

...If you like Nicolas Cage this just might be the film for you ADAPTATION If you like Nicolas Cage, this just might be the film for you... nominated for three Academy Awards, Adaptation is the cleverest comedy of the year, from the acclaimed writer of Being John Malkovich and his fictional twin brother Real-life Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman continues his association with director Spike Jonze from hit comedy Being John Malkovich in Adaptation. Kaufman, played by Nicolas Cage, who also doubles to play his fictional twin brother Donald, wrote himself into his own adaptation of real-life best-selling novel The Orchid Thief, written by New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean. The film follows the story of John Laroche (Cooper) being charged with removing orchids from state federal reserves, Orlean (Streep) publishing his story...

Kevin_Stanley 16.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of Adaptation (DVD)

This really is just another sob story...

Advantages: Not very long
Disadvantages: Just another sob-story

...I keep saying that I'm not going to read anymore of these tragic autobiographies, but then when they come up on the charity booklist at work for 25p I find it impossible to say no. I mean 25p for a bit of misery - bargain! As you can see I'm starting to question myself now - why do I keep reading these things, why would I pay to be miserable? And after a while they really do start to run into another?.in fact before I read this book a colleague was adamant that I had already read it and passed it on to her saying "these books all start to run into one another after a while!" But as she gave the brief outline of the story I didn't recognise the specific tragic childhood of Nicola Barry, and two chapters into the book I was (and certainly am now) pretty sure that I hadn't read the book. Nicola Barry Nicola Barry was...

marymoose99 18.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Mother's Ruin: The Extraordinary True Story of How Alcohol Destroys a Family - Nicola Barry