Stephen Dorff and his gherkin

Advantages: Stylish and amusing
Disadvantages: Wouldn't make me buy the product

...of gherkins. This is a great commercial - the first time you watch it you haven't got a clue what's going and the gherkin scenario is quite amusing. The advert is stylishly produced, set at night to heighten the dark atmosphere, and I particularly like the way the gherkin scene is shot so that you too are momentarily puzzled as to what's going on "down there". The advert seems to have been made on a reasonably high budget - particularly as the young man in question is played by the Hollywood film actor Stephen Dorff. Dorff's expression "a la gherkin" is a subtle mixture of surprise and discomfort and is particularly apt. Would this advert make me buy Tia Maria? I'm afraid not - because despite this clever commercial I have no idea what it tastes like nor what food or occasion this would complement. Comparing this to the current Bailey...

LostWitness 06.01.2001 · Read review
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Review of Tia Maria [TV Advertisement]

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

A Feast of Stephen

Advantages: Funny, honest, humane, readable
Disadvantages: Occasional lapses of judgement

...One suspension from school, two expulsions, underage sex, a suicide attempt, arrest and imprisonment. A proud CV for your average ASBO. A more surprising series of events for a bright public schoolboy in the 1970s. But those are the key moments of Moab Is My Washpot, Stephen Fry's seductively readable chronicle of his first 20 years. Or, more precisely, the 12 years between leaving for preparatory school at the age of eight, and his departure to another prep school, this time as a junior master. Like many others, I admire Stephen Fry. My favourite comedy has always been that which delights in the richness and absurdity of the English language. And that is where Fry excels. I first noticed his talent in his short radio essays back in the 1980s, for which he adopted the guise of stuffy academic Donald Trefusis. I've since...

Silverback 05.09.2006 · Read review
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Review of Moab is My Washpot - Stephen Fry

Jokes + Guitars = Stephen Lynch

Advantages: A different take on comedy, great social commentary
Disadvantages: Some tracks can be a little basic or short

...Stephen Lynch is an American stand-up comedian and musician from Pennsylvania and he specialises is jokey songs mocking everyday life and plying on social stereotypes and clichés. He has four albums out, two studio relases and the other two are live performances. He also has his own Comedy Central specials and starred as the lead character in the Broadway adaptation of 'The Wedding Singer,' a performance which he recieved an award nomination for. Stephen moved to New York to pursue his career and from starting in comedy clubs, he is now well known in the US, a regular on TV and radio and is expanding his global fanbase rapidly. When I first heard his music I thought it was a bit cheesy and camp, but I have now come to realise that this is part of its appeal. I had been shown him by a couple of people (one of whom is a ciao member...

BZ2886 16.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Craig Machine, The [PA] - Stephen Lynch

Desperately Seeking Stephen

Advantages: Promising beginning, some very good characters, can be used as a very effective door-stop
Disadvantages: 720 pages when perhaps half that would have sufficed, very disappointing ending

...I bought the hefty-looking Desperation from a market stall recently, knowing that the least I would get for my 95p would be a decent pennies-to-pages ratio. Having now compiled more or less all of Stephen King's novels, I'd still only managed to read about a third of them (though not through lack of trying!) and on this occasion made the naughty decision to judge Desperation by its cover and dive into straight away. It had a certain dark, minimalistic quality to it and would hopefully add to my understanding of the Dark Tower (to which many of King's standalone novels make reference) before I would eventually embark on that mammoth series. Desperation was first published in 1996, in that continually uncertain period whereby fans weren't sure whether King's next book was going to be a rip-roaring classic or a waste of space...

tom1clare 15.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Desperation - Stephen King

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

Stephen Dorff Fans will LOVE this movie

Advantages: Great action scenes and talented cast
Disadvantages: None that i can think of !

...Stephen Dorff ( Blade ) stars as Slim in this movie ( Steal also know as Raiders ) he is handsome, smart, cocky and confident. Slim along with his team Otis, Frank and Alex (three men and a woman) are risk-taking rush-seekers who robs banks across the country. Along the way he meets Karen ( Natasha Henstridge, " Species" ) but what Slim doesn't know is that his beautiful new girlfriend is a detective whose job is to bring down his gang. Slim has a plan, five consecutive burglars, in five days, involving 20 million dollars for their retirement. The first job went peachy smooth using there extreme sports skills to escape capture. Following an unexpected windfall on their second job, the gang nets $20 million in untraceable bonds. Having scored enough money to retire on, Slim and his crew decide to call the robbery game quits. But as they...

phoenix072124 04.03.2006 (16.03.2006) · Read review
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Review of Steal (DVD)

(Stephen) King Of The Castle

Advantages: Great characters and setting, different style to King's other works
Disadvantages: Fans may not like it as much as King's horror stories

...Written in 1987, the year that Stephen King turned 40 (and I was born!), The Eyes of the Dragon was perhaps his biggest detour of styles to date. Classed as horror on the back cover, it really leans closer to the fantasy genre. A bit of a gamble for a man known predominantly for gruesome spine-chillers, and its not just the genre of his work that is different here, his whole writing style has changed. But The Eyes of the Dragon triumphs thanks to his story-telling abilities alone. Peter has a fine life - the son of a King, next in line for the throne and a popular person. Things take a turn for the worse though when his father, the King of Delain, unknowingly drinks some poisoned wine and dies. Someone has set Peter up, he is charged with his fathers murder and locked away at the top of the 'needle', a very tall, thin tower...

tom1clare 14.07.2003 · Read review
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Review of The Eyes of the Dragon - Stephen King

Stephen King in a class of his own

Advantages: Great short stories, each a great novel in its own right
Disadvantages: 'The Body' is a little long

...Sometimes authors are placed into boxes, and the great Stephen King is no exception. While Terry Pratchett is known for his fantasy books and John Grisham for his gripping courtroom stories, Stephen King has always been associated with horror. As IT, Salem's Lot, Christine, Carrie, Cujo, Pet Semetary and Gerald's Game have proved, King is a master at writing scary stories; his books are both well written and compelling, with intricate plots and an imaginative use of lexis making his work extremely enjoyable. Though horror is clearly King's favourite genre, his book Different Seasons shows that he can turn his hand to anything, with this collection of four short novels as good as his previous (and later) works. Different Seasons contains four very different stories, each worthy of being a stand-alone novel in its own right. Three...

bigmike33 03.02.2007 · Read review
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Review of Different Seasons - Stephen King