Advantages: It's a very entertaining set of songs
Disadvantages: Perhaps not to everyone's taste... but then what is?

..."Indiscreet" - Sparks I absolutely love this record. In fact, I own three copies!! This is not a usual level of obsession for me. Basically, I ordered a copy on CD which took ages to arrive, phoned up the company, who said they'd send another one, and ended up with two CDs... I only paid for one and somehow or other I ended up keeping both! I used also to collect vinyl LPs and have an LP copy of this album too. It's a really entertaining record full of inventive songs with witty lyrics... but what else could you expect from Sparks? This is my Ciao debut, and I apologise if it is over-long... feel free to offer any helpful comments!! -----------------Who or what are Sparks anyway?-------------------- Sparks - one of my very favourite bands - have had a little spotlight shone on them lately, following Justin Hawkins... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Lyrically amazing and musically brilliant!
Disadvantages: None!

...Many of you know that Darren Hayes is the former front man of Savage Garden who had success worldwide. Darren hit the music world with Spin - his brilliant debut solo album which made number 2 in the UK charts. Now pretty much two years later Darren is back with a brand new record - The Tension and The Spark. However it must be noted that The Tension and The Spark is a totally different record to Spin. Where Spin was perfect pop - sometimes with a rocky edge and a few awesome ballads thrown in, Darren's second album is very electronic and dark. But this doesn't mean that it is any less good! The album is lyrically breathtaking and it can almost be guaranteed that there is at least one track on the album that everyone can relate to, be it feeling insecure or noting how the law of the land seems to be the one you love always loves... Read review

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Advantages: more beat and melody than you can handle
Disadvantages: it ends

...Sparks were(and still are ) experts at combining the perverse and downright odd with precise entertainment ,they had used these elements before but in this instance they travelled several light years in to the future ,so far in fact that this album is still contemporary ,its influence on modern dance has few rivals and its producer Giorgio Moroder can not take all the credit has he had done on those great Donna Summer and Japan records ,the sibling harmony of brothers Ron and Russell Mael would not alow that . Consisting of only six well chosen tracks, the album unveils itself with a song from the narrative perspective of poised sperm or "Tryouts For The Human Race",the racing ,pulsing backbeat emulating the urgency of climax as they chant "tryouts for the human race we just wanna be someone ",remarkably this went top 40 in 1979... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Catchy songs
Disadvantages: Few rubbish album filler

...Jordin Sparks is an 18 yrs American Pop/R&B singer. She won the 6th series of American Idol in 2007. Her debut self titled album ranges from ballads like her first single 'This is my Now' to her second US single Tatoo (very poppy) and a duet with Chris Brown titled 'No Air (R&B). Album: 1) Tatoo - This charted at number 8 on the billboard hot 100. It's a cute pop song about her love for a boy that she holds close to her heart. 2) One step at a time - Due to be her next single in the US. It's sound is like an early Christina Aguilera come Britney Spears. Easy to listen to and quite catchy 3) No Air- Duet with Chris Brown...Absolutely love this single. Has a funky R&B edge to it and again very catchy. This was released in the US and reached number 3 on the billboard hot 100. 4) Freeze - Co written by Sparks it has... Read review

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Advantages: Thought-provoking lyrics, beautiful voice, excellent musical accompaniment
Disadvantages: Some songs may be too sad or too deep for some listeners

...Released in 1974, Court and Spark is undoubtedly one of Joni Mitchell's finest works. I bought the vinyl years ago when I was about 14, and I adored it then. All these years later, this compilation of lovely tunes only becomes more and more meaningful to me. Joni Mitchell is a guitar-playing songstress, who sings with melodic fluidity. She comes from the era of free love, make love not war, hippiedom. Many of the lyrics of her songs reflect this attitude. The majority of songs on Court and Spark are, however, psychological works of art that give us an intimate peek inside the mind of this enigmatic artist. The title track begins this CD with the tale of a man who tries to worm his way into Joni's heart but simply cannot fully succeed. In this song, she speaks the language of many of us who are all to vulnerable... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great writer, ability to make me sob.
Disadvantages: Nothing.

...Nicholas Sparks got me back into reading again. At age 12/13 I was going through a stage when reading in my english class I would still a cosmo girl magazine in the middle and read that instead but then I got admitted into hospital and this lady offerd me "The Rescue". This is a true peice of romantic liturature. It made me smile, and made cry on one occasion but it's a book you just can't put down. The story reveleas many layers and is quite predicatable but's that's Nicholas Sparks. His books are quite predictable, he does great romance novels but likes to have his readers sobbing by the end. I think "The Resue" was the only one I didn't cry in. He may be predictable, you always know something bad is going to happen, but he delivers them in so many ways. The second book I read was "The Notebook" which is ultimatley my favourite... Read review

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Advantages: convenient, stick relatively well, come in a wide variety of shapes, colours and sizes
Disadvantages: quite expensive, not too good for the environment

...~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Post-It Notes!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Post-It Notes are such a simple invention but an incredibly useful one too!!! I expect that knows what Post-It Notes are and many of them probably own some but just for anyone who might not have encountered them before; they are little squares of paper (some can be rectangular shaped and other interesting shapes are now available). These little squares (or other shaped bits) of paper come in various different colours but the most popular one is yellow as they stand out when stuck on something so they are easy to spot but you can still read what is written on them as the colour is not too dark. These coloured bits of paper come in little pads (often of 100 notes) and have a strip of sticky adhesive on the back of them so they can be stuck to pretty much anything... Read review

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Advantages: Hard to put down, Heart-warming
Disadvantages: It is not the same as the film

...A Walk to Remember is one of those books that can be very hard to put down, it has to be said that this is a trait for all of Nicholas Sparks books. I was initially disappointed with A Walk to Remember, having been a big fan of the film it seemed a shame that the book is quite different. However this was no longer an issue once I got in to the story. The story is heart-wrenching and very capable of producing tears from even the most cold hearted of people. A Walk to Remember follows the story of Landon and Jamie, two teenagers from a small town. Jamie is a Baptist whose father is the local minister, she is a very understanding and forgiving person. Landon is a bit of a 'rebel' getting into lots of trouble, he and Jamie do not see eye-to-eye. Slowly throughout the story they begin to get closer beginning a heart-warming romance... Read review

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Advantages: Good range of features; Free; Very useful
Disadvantages: Limited Support

...Everyone uses or has at least heard of Post-it Notes (you know – those little yellow sticky things that can be used to jot down anything that you’ll need reminding of later). In fact, the old Post-it note has become as much a part of the modern office as that tacky plastic desk-tidy you keep in the corner and continually forget to remove (maybe that’s just me!) Often people used to stick these all around their monitor, and I guess that’s how the software version came into being. The notes are, of course, still placed upon your desktop, but this time in PC form. >> INTRODUCING THE SOFTWARE NOTE << Post-it Software Notes Lite. What a wonderful idea. A free download that will allow you to have all the advantages that the tried and tested Post-it Note gives, without affecting the environment by wasted paper and without them cluttering... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: lots of tools for electronic communication
Disadvantages: other e-mail applications are better for the end user

...I've been a user of lotus notes for about two years and it was forced upon me because of joining a new company that uses Notes as their means of electronic communication. I'm not going to go too much into detail on the technical features, but I will give you my experience with the program and the features I work and how they meet my needs and the needs of the company I work. On my first opinion of actually opening Lotus I was a bit shocked at the design. I've noticed that a lot of big organisations use lotus notes as their means of e-mail, but I had never had any experience with it and the only e-mail applications I had been using was Microsoft versions. The icons featured in Notes are very different to those I have seen in any other programs and it seems they have tried as much as possible to move away from the Microsoft way... Read review

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