London To Brighton DVD

Advantages: VERY IMPRESSIVE FILM
Disadvantages: NONE

...'s lives are hard and hopeless and they grift as best they can to get by. The gloom extends to the locations too, from the grey and empty streets of London to the cold and desolate Brighton beach. And yet despite the despair and the lengths that street worker Kelly (played quite brilliantly by Lorraine Stanley) has to go to to simply survive, she discovers a streak of maternal compassion and morality when she takes the lost 12 year-old Joanne (a stunning debut by Georgia Groome) under her wing as the girls go on the run from some very bad men. The cast is uniformly excellent but particularly the two female leads and the vicious thug Derek who is played with such clinical and chilling effiiciency by Johnny Harris. This truly impressive first feature film, announces a major talent in Paul Williams, both as director and writer. His...

Wjww 13.03.2008 (16.03.2008) · Read review
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Review of London To Brighton (DVD)

Your neighbours are murdered, did they go to the wrong house?

Advantages: An easy to read thriller which has it's moments.
Disadvantages: Not as good as No Time for Goodbye, and you can guess the killer rather easily.

...I came across Linwood Barclay after reading No Time for Goodbye, which was a huge bestseller, mainly because it was a Richard & Judy summe read winner. I really enjoyed No Time for Goodbye, it reminded me of Harlan Coben's books, so when I saw Too Close To Home I decided to give it a go. About the Author Linwood Barclay was born in the states but moved to Canada when he was 4 years old. He has an Honours B.A. in English from Trent University and worked for the Toronto Star newspaper before he retired in 2008 to concentrate just on books. His first standalone thriller, No Time for Goodbye, was a huge success and quickly became a bestseller in the UK and around the world. Plot The front cover of this book draws you in from the words: "What's more frightening than your neighbours being murdered? Finding...

GemmaC25 13.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay

Crowne Plaza St James - A Great London Hotel Happy to See You

Advantages: Great Location. Excellent standard of service. Relatively good value for London.
Disadvantages: No Pool. That's about it!

...a surprise ? she had no idea where we were dining, what we were seeing at the theatre or where we were staying ? so it was a lovely surprise for her when we arrived for our stay. FIRST IMPRESSIONS First impressions were excellent. The hotel has an impressive entrance, replete with doorman and red carpet and the reception staff were very friendly and professional. They actually seemed pleased to see us, and we were thankfully spared the gushing obsequiousness or, conversely, the downright haughtiness that you can find in some London hotels. The interior was in very much in keeping with exterior of the property with plush and expensive looking furniture, fittings and fixtures. My wife, not so easy to impress, was quite delighted. The only slight down side is that there is very little natural light in the foyer area, so its not really...

Hishyeness 20.04.2009 (14.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of Crowne Plaza London St James, London

Close To The Best

Advantages: classic band line-up on top form
Disadvantages: very long, multi-part tracks-impenetrable lyrics

...This epic is Yes' fifth album and the second featuring the dream-team line-up of Jon Anderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Bill Bruford (percussion) and Rick Wakeman (keyboards). Originally released in late '72 it climaxed a year in which Yes had become a top draw on both sides of the Atlantic but despite the frenetic pace they managed to put together an album that rates as not merely one of their best, but one of the best in the entire Prog rock genre. Their previous album had been recorded straight after Wakeman's recruitment from The Strawbs, and consequently he had not felt too happy with his contribution to that record ("Fragile"). No such problems with CTTE however. The band's gruelling tour schedule had seen Wakeman fully assimilated into the Yes scheme of things and his flamboyant playing pushed Howe...

treemusicuk 18.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Close To The Edge [Remastered] - Yes

Things to do in Denver.....?

Advantages: Inspirational
Disadvantages: Too little time

..."Unforgettable Things to do before you die" is the second in the BBC series, and another title which will appeal to the armchair traveller, albeit a slightly more adventurous traveller than the average "Places to see before you die" reader. That said, both books together make a great set, even if reading them cover to cover makes you realise that if you really want to see these great places and do all these great things, you need to get a move on! Lie its sister title, this can only be a subjective account of the best activities to experience in the world. The book is co-written by two travel writer/photographers - Steve Watkins and Clare Jones, reflecting their own personal experiences. Perhaps it shows my own less adventurous side that I have not tried any of these "Unforgettable Things" in the book, although I have had one...

helencbradshaw 06.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Unforgettable Things to do before you die - BBC Books

Close to the knuckle (duster)

Advantages: A detailed story with good, strong characterisation written in true Martina Cole fashion
Disadvantages: Same old, slightly tired, plot and definitely not as gripping as previous Martina Cole offerings

...I am a very recent convert to the draw of Martina Cole novels. I think I read my first of her novels sometime last year, and since then I've worked my way through all her books from the earliest to the latest. "Close" is her thirteenth novel and most recent blockbuster, hitting the shelves sometime in mid October. The sort of genre she writes under could be loosely described as crime/thriller fiction, with a hard, gruesome edge. She tends to mainly write about East End villains, their wives and families. There is no exception to this pattern with "Close". Again, it's set in the East end of London and tells the tale of the rise and fall of a gangland family. It's graphic and it's violent - everything you expect a Martina Cole novel to be. Lily Diamond is our "heroine", a 16 year old factory worker, who meets and falls in love...

Bollinger28 15.12.2006 · Read review
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Review of Close - Martina Cole

Too close for comfort?

Advantages: An absorbing storyline which is easy to read
Disadvantages: Over too soon

...extremely easy to read, and it is the most enjoyable book that I have read in a long while - you know that feeling when you have to keep reading, but really don't want to finish, and when you do finish, you don't want to start another book in case it isn't as good?! Well, that is how this book made me feel! Also the text size of my paperback copy is perfect, I wouldn't normally mention this, but I have recently put down a book after a couple of pages (a rare occurrence for me) because the text was so small; I lost interest and it made my eyes hurt! Although I don't want to compare Too Close to Home with No time for Goodbye, it is impossible not to. The two books are very similar in style, and the way both stories have main characters that fall from one disaster to the next whilst trying to sort things out is almost identical, but both books...

chilcott1 05.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay

The most beautiful city in Europe

Advantages: Lots to see and beautiful place
Disadvantages: NA

...This is part of my travel diary on a tour from Contiki. Berlin/Prague/Vienna tour Day 4 We arrived at the manificant city in early evening. After having some dinner, our guide took us out for a city walk. We stayed close to the Wenceslas Square and all the major sights are within walkable distance. We finished the evening at the local pub. English is widely used in here and you can see a lot of influence of UK. We walked passed a big Tesco store and Marks and Spencer in the city centre-I believe this is the first time that I came across these two typical UK brand in a city in Europe. Even though Czech is now part of the EU, similar to the UK, they have not adopted Euro yet. Their local currency is called Crown and apparently they will not start using the Euro until 2020. Things are pretty cheap in Prague-well a good excuse...

medgenie 17.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Things to see in Prague

Say NO! to closing the London Butterfly House

Advantages: Fantastic Display
Disadvantages: Bit hot and stuffy!

...designed and carried on the look of the mini rainforest. I didn't stay in there for very long as I didn't like it too much though my girlfriend loved it. Then the final door before the exit took us into a room that look like an aquarium, but was actually tanks of insect etc..... I remember seeing large Millepede's, Some small black Scorpions, Tarantula's and some bright green coloured Fruit Beetles, though there was more. Then upon Exit there was the gift shop where as usual my girlfriend spends a load of money on silly things that will be tossed to one side when we get home.....though she did buy a glass butterfly windchime that was quite ok. Then we see that the London Butterfly House is to be closed and crushed by 2007 when their lease runs out, to be replaced by an hotel.......disgusted. The London Butterfly house is not...

darren1982 01.09.2006 · Read review
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Review of London Butterfly House, London

How Close To Nature?

Advantages: Cheaper than Avent
Disadvantages: But not as good as avent

...Tommee Tippee Closer to nature Bottles The moment I saw these bottles I thought that they looked really smart and as I had an Amazon voucher to spend I thought I would invest in a couple and see how they faired compared to the more widely used baby bottles made by Avent. I already had a few Avent bottles given to me from a friend and I just had to buy some new teats for them so comparing the two was easy. I paid around £10 for three of these Tommee Tippee bottles that hold 260ml and that price includes the postage and packaging costs, minus that it would have cost around £8. Now this compared to Avent is probably slightly cheaper as I have recent bought some of my own large Avent Bottles and I paid £15 for four from Boots, so buying Avent it works out a little more expensive. These Tommee Tippee bottles are called...

newby2 20.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Feeding Bottles