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This is a cool enough little toy if you will. Still, it isn't really useful outside of being a novelty item IMO. Yes, you can play with the stylus, but not so well that you are likely to be enamored of it for long. I don't find the pitch bend to be useful at all. The three different tones are a nice feature and the thing does get surprisingly loud when cranked all the way up. It also definitely looks very cool. Ultimately, this one has ended up being more of a toy for my daughter than any sort of practical or even necessarily fun instrument for me. I will pick it up here and there when I am bored though, so I defintiely have gotten my moneys worth out of t, and for the low price, it's almost worth it simply for the novelty of the instrument.
I did however find one practical use for it I suppose. It can be used as essentially the same thing as a tuning fork if you are so inclined, and if it is in tune. However, in the age of >$15 digital tuners, this is really just a feature of note that you probably won't use. | 1 | neutral | [
"This is a cool enough little toy if you will.",
"Still, it isn't really useful outside of being a novelty item IMO.",
"Yes, you can play with the stylus, but not so well that you are likely to be enamored of it for long.",
"I don't find the pitch bend to be useful at all.",
"The three different tones are a nice feature and the thing does get surprisingly loud when cranked all the way up.",
"It also definitely looks very cool.",
"Ultimately, this one has ended up being more of a toy for my daughter than any sort of practical or even necessarily fun instrument for me.",
"I will pick it up here and there when I am bored though, so I defintiely have gotten my moneys worth out of t, and for the low price, it's almost worth it simply for the novelty of the instrument.",
"I did however find one practical use for it I suppose.",
"It can be used as essentially the same thing as a tuning fork if you are so inclined, and if it is in tune.",
"However, in the age of >$15 digital tuners, this is really just a feature of note that you probably won't use."
] |
This Ortho insect killer works but here's the problem- it doesn't work on worms where it's most important. My tomatoes look like they've been through a war zone with nothing able to provide medical assistance thanks to this products inability to eliminate them. This Ortho killer works great for ants and flies however. My pepper plants are beautiful and more productive than ever as a result of this product. The worms however... they get worse every year. They will completely destroy a vegetable garden. Keep this in mind. Oh and don't sprinkle any on before a rainstorm. That's a pretty big mistake since it'll just wash off. | 1 | neutral | [
"This Ortho insect killer works but here's the problem- it doesn't work on worms where it's most important.",
"My tomatoes look like they've been through a war zone with nothing able to provide medical assistance thanks to this products inability to eliminate them.",
"This Ortho killer works great for ants and flies however.",
"My pepper plants are beautiful and more productive than ever as a result of this product.",
"The worms however...",
"they get worse every year.",
"They will completely destroy a vegetable garden.",
"Keep this in mind.",
"Oh and don't sprinkle any on before a rainstorm.",
"That's a pretty big mistake since it'll just wash off."
] |
I'm a bit of an amateur Tudor historian and have been for about five years, so I'm going to come at this review from a different place than someone who doesn't know the true story behind this book and these real-life people.
Don't get me wrong -- I love this book. I've read it many, many times and will continue to read it over and over again. But, to be honest, I don't really view it as anything more than a highbrow bodice ripper, hence my title calling it "trashy." It's fancy beach reading, but I mean that in the nicest way possible. It's written in a very compelling way and will keep you entertained. Despite it's length, it's a book I can -- and do -- finish rather quickly whenever I read it. It's a pageturner, there's no doubt about it.l
My real issue with this book is, naturally, the historical inaccuracies and great liberties that author Gregory takes with the story of the Tudors. Inaccuracies that she tries to pass off as historical fact. But I am still able to enjoy and appreciate it while also appreciating non-fiction books on the same subject. I sort of view this as an adaptation of history: Movie adaptations rarely follow the book exactly and always take liberties, but a person can still love both the book and the movie. That's kind of how I approach The Other Boleyn Girl. | 1 | neutral | [
"I'm a bit of an amateur Tudor historian and have been for about five years, so I'm going to come at this review from a different place than someone who doesn't know the true story behind this book and these real-life people.",
"Don't get me wrong -- I love this book.",
"I've read it many, many times and will continue to read it over and over again.",
"But, to be honest, I don't really view it as anything more than a highbrow bodice ripper, hence my title calling it \"trashy.",
"\" It's fancy beach reading, but I mean that in the nicest way possible.",
"It's written in a very compelling way and will keep you entertained.",
"Despite it's length, it's a book I can -- and do -- finish rather quickly whenever I read it.",
"It's a pageturner, there's no doubt about it.",
"l\n\nMy real issue with this book is, naturally, the historical inaccuracies and great liberties that author Gregory takes with the story of the Tudors.",
"Inaccuracies that she tries to pass off as historical fact.",
"But I am still able to enjoy and appreciate it while also appreciating non-fiction books on the same subject.",
"I sort of view this as an adaptation of history: Movie adaptations rarely follow the book exactly and always take liberties, but a person can still love both the book and the movie.",
"That's kind of how I approach The Other Boleyn Girl."
] |
Meh. Thats what I thought of this game after playing it for about a week.
If you like in-depth mmorpgs, lots of crafting/tradeskills and things of that nature, this game isn't for you. Basically its a LOT like City of Heroes. You fight, and fight and fight and fight...and thats about it. Oh wait, you also can participate in critical missions sponsored by the server when you get to a high level, but you'll be doing nothing but street fighting and missions like you do in city of heroes.
The combat system is good, not AWESOME, but cool. I prefer wow's combat system with hotkeys for your spells/abilities, but whatever. This is a different combat system and much cooler than the old pick a spell and watch it happen style that EQ and a lot of others have. Basically its a super-advanced version of rock/paper/scissors, but not as dull as rock paper scissors :).
The absolute best thing about this game is the fighting animations. They simply rock. When you get off a martial arts special move and smack the mob around like a rag doll, you get all giddy inside :). Unfortunately, thats all you do in this game - fight.
The lag...oh god. Other than the mind-numbingly boring kill the same guys over and over, you'll pick an ability to use, wait like 5 minutes mashing the key while your character does nothing, and then when the lag bomb goes away, you're dead. I mean this happens in just about every online game at one point or another (even world of warcraft), but not as often as this game does. I have a pretty high-end machine and cable internet and it still lags.
Personally, I would not suggest this for anyone. There are MUCH better games out there. I just feel bad for die-hard fans of the matrix that went out and got this and realized they wasted their money.
If you want a really good online game, I suggest World of Warcraft. I wrote a pretty decent review about it. Another really fun yet simple one (if all you want to do is fight and play every once in a while) - is City of Heroes. I mean City of Heroes is a lot like this game, just fighting and fighting, but I keep finding myself going back for the cool super powers over and over :) I played FFXI too long, and it just took too long to get stuff done - so I don't suggest getting that.
Bottom-line, don't get this game, there are so many other good games out there and this one just doesn't cut the mustard. Main reason being the lag and the bugs, second reason being the mind-numbingly boring system of kill, get xp, kill again, repeat till max level. | 1 | neutral | [
"Meh.",
"Thats what I thought of this game after playing it for about a week.",
"If you like in-depth mmorpgs, lots of crafting/tradeskills and things of that nature, this game isn't for you.",
"Basically its a LOT like City of Heroes.",
"You fight, and fight and fight and fight...",
"and thats about it.",
"Oh wait, you also can participate in critical missions sponsored by the server when you get to a high level, but you'll be doing nothing but street fighting and missions like you do in city of heroes.",
"The combat system is good, not AWESOME, but cool.",
"I prefer wow's combat system with hotkeys for your spells/abilities, but whatever.",
"This is a different combat system and much cooler than the old pick a spell and watch it happen style that EQ and a lot of others have.",
"Basically its a super-advanced version of rock/paper/scissors, but not as dull as rock paper scissors :).",
"The absolute best thing about this game is the fighting animations.",
"They simply rock.",
"When you get off a martial arts special move and smack the mob around like a rag doll, you get all giddy inside :).",
"Unfortunately, thats all you do in this game - fight.",
"The lag...",
"oh god.",
"Other than the mind-numbingly boring kill the same guys over and over, you'll pick an ability to use, wait like 5 minutes mashing the key while your character does nothing, and then when the lag bomb goes away, you're dead.",
"I mean this happens in just about every online game at one point or another (even world of warcraft), but not as often as this game does.",
"I have a pretty high-end machine and cable internet and it still lags.",
"Personally, I would not suggest this for anyone.",
"There are MUCH better games out there.",
"I just feel bad for die-hard fans of the matrix that went out and got this and realized they wasted their money.",
"If you want a really good online game, I suggest World of Warcraft.",
"I wrote a pretty decent review about it.",
"Another really fun yet simple one (if all you want to do is fight and play every once in a while) - is City of Heroes.",
"I mean City of Heroes is a lot like this game, just fighting and fighting, but I keep finding myself going back for the cool super powers over and over :) I played FFXI too long, and it just took too long to get stuff done - so I don't suggest getting that.",
"Bottom-line, don't get this game, there are so many other good games out there and this one just doesn't cut the mustard.",
"Main reason being the lag and the bugs, second reason being the mind-numbingly boring system of kill, get xp, kill again, repeat till max level."
] |
Constantly. I have never claimed that I am anything but some guy posting on the internet. Yes, on second thought, when you said "please stop it", "All this home-spun moralising is making me want to cry!" - I should have seen that as the friendly post it was. And I talked about the shallowness of making mass assumptions on a person based on either where they come from, or what t-shirt they are wearing. Thats fine, if you see some guy wearing a t-shirt that says something you agree with and automatically feel you have "more in common" with them. That is great for you. I personally would talk to a person, get to know them and then decide if I have anything in common with them. The leader of their homeland or choice of t-shirt are not real pursuasive influences on me. So when you see a pimply faced kid wearing a "I Love Vegetarians" or a "Che Guvera" shirt on one side of the street, and a person wearing just a regular button down shirt, you automatically figure you have more in common with the kid? Okedoke. | 1 | neutral | [
"Constantly.",
"I have never claimed that I am anything but some guy posting on the internet.",
"Yes, on second thought, when you said \"please stop it\", \"All this home-spun moralising is making me want to cry!",
"\" - I should have seen that as the friendly post it was.",
"And I talked about the shallowness of making mass assumptions on a person based on either where they come from, or what t-shirt they are wearing.",
"Thats fine, if you see some guy wearing a t-shirt that says something you agree with and automatically feel you have \"more in common\" with them.",
"That is great for you.",
"I personally would talk to a person, get to know them and then decide if I have anything in common with them.",
"The leader of their homeland or choice of t-shirt are not real pursuasive influences on me.",
"So when you see a pimply faced kid wearing a \"I Love Vegetarians\" or a \"Che Guvera\" shirt on one side of the street, and a person wearing just a regular button down shirt, you automatically figure you have more in common with the kid?",
"Okedoke."
] |
I am giving this book 3 stars simply because it held my interest and I finished it in a short space of time. And that's partially why I'm so upset after finishing the second book in this series. It had SO much potential! Had the characters been drawn in a more likable, believable way, this book and this series would have been nothing short of fantastic.
As it is written, however, I feel miserably cheated. Faraday and Azhure started out being so similar I felt that you could have easily interchanged their names in any given sentence. They were stereotypical fantasy heroines. However, Azhure grew and gained some depth thanks to some good plotting. It seemed like Ms. Douglass simply forgot about Faraday, and didn't really know how to approach her as Azhure grew in the story. Certainly, I forgot about Faraday. She was mostly an irritation to me as the story progressed. Like another reviewer mentioned: I would have been fine if she had just fallen off a cliff! Her presence annoyed me. I got sick of her perfection, her beauty, her graciousness. Give me some grit!! It further troubled me that Douglass went to great lengths to give Azhure a backbone as a strong heroine, and then turned her into an insecure victim where Axis was concerned. I'm sorry, but a woman like Azhure would not sit by and watch the man she loved go off to another woman. Not even in the thinly plotted explanation Douglass provides about her understanding that Axis "had" to do it because of The Prophecy. One of the most disappointing aspects of the book was how Azhure just wimped out on that. And Faraday too! I mean, c'mon! She just got jilted in a majorly bad way and she is so magnanimous that she just turns the other cheek immediately? Puh-lease.
And Axis...I don't understand why Douglass decided to go to such lengths to develop this man's honor, character, etc. and then have him cheat on Azhure like he did. It was fine that he gave his heart to Azhure...we all understood that. But then Douglass takes that away from the readers and makes them suffer through sex scenes between Axis and Faraday. I'm sorry, but that was a brutal character assassination of Axis. He was better than that and Douglass RUINED him for me. If Douglass wants to include some elements of romance in her novels, then she needs to learn a few of the rules of romantic elements. While its fine to give characters flaws, even serious ones, it is a complete turn off to readers to have the "hero" give his heart to someone and then have him cheat on her willingly. I can't believe another single thing about Axis now. He has lost every shred of credibility with me. I'm sure I'm not alone. Douglass ruined her hero, irreparably for me.
On to the writing elements, Douglass uses odd sentence phrasing to the point where I had to read many sentences multiple times to figure out what it meant. Better grammatical skills would have been nice.
As with The Wayfarer Redemption, the silly names and random capitilizations are annoying to the extreme.
Still, as much as I have just bashed the book for the preceeding reasons, I do like the story. I simply wish that more care had been taken with the characters and their actions.
And finally, I got SO tired of the word PROPHECY. We KNOW THE PROPHECY backwards and forwards at this point. I got super tired of having it mentioned practically on every single page in the book!!! | 1 | neutral | [
"I am giving this book 3 stars simply because it held my interest and I finished it in a short space of time.",
"And that's partially why I'm so upset after finishing the second book in this series.",
"It had SO much potential!",
"Had the characters been drawn in a more likable, believable way, this book and this series would have been nothing short of fantastic.",
"As it is written, however, I feel miserably cheated.",
"Faraday and Azhure started out being so similar I felt that you could have easily interchanged their names in any given sentence.",
"They were stereotypical fantasy heroines.",
"However, Azhure grew and gained some depth thanks to some good plotting.",
"It seemed like Ms.",
"Douglass simply forgot about Faraday, and didn't really know how to approach her as Azhure grew in the story.",
"Certainly, I forgot about Faraday.",
"She was mostly an irritation to me as the story progressed.",
"Like another reviewer mentioned: I would have been fine if she had just fallen off a cliff!",
"Her presence annoyed me.",
"I got sick of her perfection, her beauty, her graciousness.",
"Give me some grit!!",
"It further troubled me that Douglass went to great lengths to give Azhure a backbone as a strong heroine, and then turned her into an insecure victim where Axis was concerned.",
"I'm sorry, but a woman like Azhure would not sit by and watch the man she loved go off to another woman.",
"Not even in the thinly plotted explanation Douglass provides about her understanding that Axis \"had\" to do it because of The Prophecy.",
"One of the most disappointing aspects of the book was how Azhure just wimped out on that.",
"And Faraday too!",
"I mean, c'mon!",
"She just got jilted in a majorly bad way and she is so magnanimous that she just turns the other cheek immediately?",
"Puh-lease.",
"And Axis...",
"I don't understand why Douglass decided to go to such lengths to develop this man's honor, character, etc.",
"and then have him cheat on Azhure like he did.",
"It was fine that he gave his heart to Azhure...",
"we all understood that.",
"But then Douglass takes that away from the readers and makes them suffer through sex scenes between Axis and Faraday.",
"I'm sorry, but that was a brutal character assassination of Axis.",
"He was better than that and Douglass RUINED him for me.",
"If Douglass wants to include some elements of romance in her novels, then she needs to learn a few of the rules of romantic elements.",
"While its fine to give characters flaws, even serious ones, it is a complete turn off to readers to have the \"hero\" give his heart to someone and then have him cheat on her willingly.",
"I can't believe another single thing about Axis now.",
"He has lost every shred of credibility with me.",
"I'm sure I'm not alone.",
"Douglass ruined her hero, irreparably for me.",
"On to the writing elements, Douglass uses odd sentence phrasing to the point where I had to read many sentences multiple times to figure out what it meant.",
"Better grammatical skills would have been nice.",
"As with The Wayfarer Redemption, the silly names and random capitilizations are annoying to the extreme.",
"Still, as much as I have just bashed the book for the preceeding reasons, I do like the story.",
"I simply wish that more care had been taken with the characters and their actions.",
"And finally, I got SO tired of the word PROPHECY.",
"We KNOW THE PROPHECY backwards and forwards at this point.",
"I got super tired of having it mentioned practically on every single page in the book!!!"
] |
I bought this to be able to take exposures at night that would make the camera shake if I tried to push the shutter by hand. It is a fairly simple device that plugs into a port on the camera side and acts as the shutter release button. It can also be locked into an open position for long timed shots or for continuous shooting.
The problems I found were that it is made of inexpensive materials and it functions properly only with great care. I used it for the first time to take some photos of trains passing. I didn't need the lock down....just to be able to release the shutter and let go to be able to take the pictures I was trying to get. On several of the attempts, the device locked open and went into continuous shot mode. Even when pulled out of the forward lock mode, and with the finger off the trigger, it still stayed in that position. In all of the cases where this happened, I had to shut off the camera and turn it back on to get the thing to work properly.
While I haven't seen a better release device for my camera, I have to believe there is one and am looking now. This will work for you, but beware as it seems to develop a mind of its own at times. | 1 | neutral | [
"I bought this to be able to take exposures at night that would make the camera shake if I tried to push the shutter by hand.",
"It is a fairly simple device that plugs into a port on the camera side and acts as the shutter release button.",
"It can also be locked into an open position for long timed shots or for continuous shooting.",
"The problems I found were that it is made of inexpensive materials and it functions properly only with great care.",
"I used it for the first time to take some photos of trains passing.",
"I didn't need the lock down....",
"just to be able to release the shutter and let go to be able to take the pictures I was trying to get.",
"On several of the attempts, the device locked open and went into continuous shot mode.",
"Even when pulled out of the forward lock mode, and with the finger off the trigger, it still stayed in that position.",
"In all of the cases where this happened, I had to shut off the camera and turn it back on to get the thing to work properly.",
"While I haven't seen a better release device for my camera, I have to believe there is one and am looking now.",
"This will work for you, but beware as it seems to develop a mind of its own at times."
] |
I just received these Pentax XCF binoculars in 16x50 power so any dissatisfaction I have with the view through them mainly may be due to the very high power. I have a Nikon Action EX waterproof 12x50 binocular (which I like very much) that seems brighter and sharper across the field of view, but they cost nearly $100 more. That said, the bottom line is that for the price I paid, these XCF's are a bargain compared to the mass-market brands. I wish I had the 12x50 or 10x50 model to compare the Pentax brand more directly with other brands and particularly to judge, in general, between Pentax and Nikon. And I wonder how the distortion in a Nikon 16x lens compares with that I see in the Pentax.
Lens power aside, my XCF binocular was made in the Philippines so as of Aug. 2014, forget Made in Japan. The binoculars seem well constructed and sturdy...I see no problems with them in that regard. Strangely enough, I couldn't find mention of whether the binocular barrels are metal or plastic in reviews or specifications and STILL can't tell what they're made of. Usually metal feels cooler, but the rubber coating makes it hard to judge -- The barrels seem solid and I suspect they're metal. The XCF is more compact than my lower-power Nikon Actions. Some reviews complain about a stiff focus action...my focus wheel turns easily and focus is smooth and steady. Note that the XCF eyecups are simple "flip down" rather than fancier "twist-up". I missed that fact in the descriptions so it was a surprise. In fact the cheaper eyecup probably won't make much difference to me...at least they don't twist off as the other style can. AND what's with these "quality" brands including binocular cases (bags actually) without a shoulder strap...Neither my Pentax nor Nikon bag has a strap, or even D-rings for my own strap.
My advice is that unless one specifically wants 16x or higher power (as I did) then get a maximum of 10x50 or 12x50. Within a brand and model, the lower power will give a sharper and brighter image across the width of the lens, have a deeper zone that's in focus and will be easier to hold steady. AND if looking for 16x or higher power, then compare these to a higher quality lens before buying...I didn't do that, but then I've gotten superior utility and value for the price I paid. Finally, if one wants just ONE pleasing, work-horse binocular that's a keeper (rather than a collection like I've somehow amassed) then between brands, pay-up to get a 2nd-tier quality over a cheapo brand, or within a brand, pay-up to a next tier above the bottom tier model. Pentax and Nikon seem to be go-to mass-market brands a step ahead of the pack. I also like the rugged Bushnell H2O line, though that model comes with smaller 42mm max. lenses.
As I gain more experience with my Pentax XCF 16x50 binocular, I might bump my Star-rating up a star.
********** UPDATE 10/20/14
I recently bought a pair of Pentax PCF WP II (8x40) that I like very much. And I've used these 16x50 XCF's a bit more. I also got a pair of lower powered 10x50 XCF's that I'm NOT impressed with. After all that, I DEFINITELY would recommend upgrading to the Pentax PCF model for anyone who can afford the price bump. There's something just not-quite-as-good about the view through and feel of the XCF's. | 1 | neutral | [
"I just received these Pentax XCF binoculars in 16x50 power so any dissatisfaction I have with the view through them mainly may be due to the very high power.",
"I have a Nikon Action EX waterproof 12x50 binocular (which I like very much) that seems brighter and sharper across the field of view, but they cost nearly $100 more.",
"That said, the bottom line is that for the price I paid, these XCF's are a bargain compared to the mass-market brands.",
"I wish I had the 12x50 or 10x50 model to compare the Pentax brand more directly with other brands and particularly to judge, in general, between Pentax and Nikon.",
"And I wonder how the distortion in a Nikon 16x lens compares with that I see in the Pentax.",
"Lens power aside, my XCF binocular was made in the Philippines so as of Aug.",
"2014, forget Made in Japan.",
"The binoculars seem well constructed and sturdy...",
"I see no problems with them in that regard.",
"Strangely enough, I couldn't find mention of whether the binocular barrels are metal or plastic in reviews or specifications and STILL can't tell what they're made of.",
"Usually metal feels cooler, but the rubber coating makes it hard to judge -- The barrels seem solid and I suspect they're metal.",
"The XCF is more compact than my lower-power Nikon Actions.",
"Some reviews complain about a stiff focus action...",
"my focus wheel turns easily and focus is smooth and steady.",
"Note that the XCF eyecups are simple \"flip down\" rather than fancier \"twist-up\".",
"I missed that fact in the descriptions so it was a surprise.",
"In fact the cheaper eyecup probably won't make much difference to me...",
"at least they don't twist off as the other style can.",
"AND what's with these \"quality\" brands including binocular cases (bags actually) without a shoulder strap...",
"Neither my Pentax nor Nikon bag has a strap, or even D-rings for my own strap.",
"My advice is that unless one specifically wants 16x or higher power (as I did) then get a maximum of 10x50 or 12x50.",
"Within a brand and model, the lower power will give a sharper and brighter image across the width of the lens, have a deeper zone that's in focus and will be easier to hold steady.",
"AND if looking for 16x or higher power, then compare these to a higher quality lens before buying...",
"I didn't do that, but then I've gotten superior utility and value for the price I paid.",
"Finally, if one wants just ONE pleasing, work-horse binocular that's a keeper (rather than a collection like I've somehow amassed) then between brands, pay-up to get a 2nd-tier quality over a cheapo brand, or within a brand, pay-up to a next tier above the bottom tier model.",
"Pentax and Nikon seem to be go-to mass-market brands a step ahead of the pack.",
"I also like the rugged Bushnell H2O line, though that model comes with smaller 42mm max.",
"lenses.",
"As I gain more experience with my Pentax XCF 16x50 binocular, I might bump my Star-rating up a star.",
"********** UPDATE 10/20/14\nI recently bought a pair of Pentax PCF WP II (8x40) that I like very much.",
"And I've used these 16x50 XCF's a bit more.",
"I also got a pair of lower powered 10x50 XCF's that I'm NOT impressed with.",
"After all that, I DEFINITELY would recommend upgrading to the Pentax PCF model for anyone who can afford the price bump.",
"There's something just not-quite-as-good about the view through and feel of the XCF's."
] |
I like this series - it has great characters and plenty of action, lots of world building and genuinely worth a try if this is the genre you like.
So why only 3 stars?
I give 5 stars to books I just cannot put down, you know four o'clock in the morning with an exam in five hours, but no way can I stop reading.
I give 4 stars to books I will grudgingly put down at midnight for that exam or job interview tomorrow,
I give three stars to books that I like but can put down from time to time.
The reason for this rating was the fact that throughout the book there are these editing errors of words that get mixed up. For example sow vs sew. I find that when I read that the ladies are sowing by a window, I just crack up laughing at the thought of them throwing seeds round the room. Having cracked up laughing, I need to put the book down because the train of thought has been interrupted and I don't get that obsessive need to turn the page.
It is not recommended for those who hate these sorts of errors. I don't dislike such things, but they do make me giggle to the point where the flow of the novel is interrupted at that point. | 1 | neutral | [
"I like this series - it has great characters and plenty of action, lots of world building and genuinely worth a try if this is the genre you like.",
"So why only 3 stars?",
"I give 5 stars to books I just cannot put down, you know four o'clock in the morning with an exam in five hours, but no way can I stop reading.",
"I give 4 stars to books I will grudgingly put down at midnight for that exam or job interview tomorrow,\n\nI give three stars to books that I like but can put down from time to time.",
"The reason for this rating was the fact that throughout the book there are these editing errors of words that get mixed up.",
"For example sow vs sew.",
"I find that when I read that the ladies are sowing by a window, I just crack up laughing at the thought of them throwing seeds round the room.",
"Having cracked up laughing, I need to put the book down because the train of thought has been interrupted and I don't get that obsessive need to turn the page.",
"It is not recommended for those who hate these sorts of errors.",
"I don't dislike such things, but they do make me giggle to the point where the flow of the novel is interrupted at that point."
] |
DAZED AND CONFUSED is the story of a group of High Schoolers enjoying "Senior Day" back in 1976.
As a product of that era, this used to be one of my favorite stupid movies. And, truth be told, the presentation of this version is excellent. But with the passage of time I've come to realize that my affection for DAZED AND CONFUSED has more to do with my own sense of nostalgia than with this film's actual ability to accurately reenact the mid-70s. This is far better than THAT 70S SHOW, for example, but it's still utterly ersatz.
It may have to do with the setting, small-town Texas, as opposed to Long Island, where I grew up, but my gut feeling is that the shortfall has less to do with geography than with gestalt. DAZED AND CONFUSED is too one-dimensional. The film gets the stoner elements just about right ("And it's green!"), but it just doesn't address my generation's then-prevalent desire to see ourselves as post-hippie hippies, the heirs of the Sixties counterculture; nor does it touch on our bitter cynicism about Watergate and Vietnam and our concomitant distrust of authority, something that endures to this day. It wasn't all about rollin' and smokin'---a lot of it was, but not all of it---and it was the substance of those homegrown conversations that defined us, not the mere act of lighting up.
Granted, DAZED AND CONFUSED isn't a social history, but ANY period film has to capture its times in order to be authentic. This doesn't.
Lest I sound TOO cynical, this is a little gem of a film that's well worth seeing, and it will take you back---you'll just never forget that you're watching actors act.
THREE AND A HALF STARS | 1 | neutral | [
"DAZED AND CONFUSED is the story of a group of High Schoolers enjoying \"Senior Day\" back in 1976.",
"As a product of that era, this used to be one of my favorite stupid movies.",
"And, truth be told, the presentation of this version is excellent.",
"But with the passage of time I've come to realize that my affection for DAZED AND CONFUSED has more to do with my own sense of nostalgia than with this film's actual ability to accurately reenact the mid-70s.",
"This is far better than THAT 70S SHOW, for example, but it's still utterly ersatz.",
"It may have to do with the setting, small-town Texas, as opposed to Long Island, where I grew up, but my gut feeling is that the shortfall has less to do with geography than with gestalt.",
"DAZED AND CONFUSED is too one-dimensional.",
"The film gets the stoner elements just about right (\"And it's green!",
"\"), but it just doesn't address my generation's then-prevalent desire to see ourselves as post-hippie hippies, the heirs of the Sixties counterculture; nor does it touch on our bitter cynicism about Watergate and Vietnam and our concomitant distrust of authority, something that endures to this day.",
"It wasn't all about rollin' and smokin'---a lot of it was, but not all of it---and it was the substance of those homegrown conversations that defined us, not the mere act of lighting up.",
"Granted, DAZED AND CONFUSED isn't a social history, but ANY period film has to capture its times in order to be authentic.",
"This doesn't.",
"Lest I sound TOO cynical, this is a little gem of a film that's well worth seeing, and it will take you back---you'll just never forget that you're watching actors act.",
"THREE AND A HALF STARS"
] |
While 1992's "Broken" is easily the most aggressive NIN album to date (that being early-mid 2005), it lacks the presence and structure that really carry the full lengths, namely "The Downward Spiral" and "The Fragile". However, this is not to say that "Broken" is a poor album, but in comparison to its predecessor (the synth-pop-rock opus "Pretty Hate Machine" and its successor ("The Downward Spiral"), "Broken" seems to fall on its face a bit.
Pinion opens the album with a decent buildup, consisting of about 40 second of one guitar riff getting louder. Not bad, keep in mind though, of the 8 tracks on this EP, this is one of them. Wish is much better, with Reznor's advanced lyrics shining through, easily surpassing those of "Pretty Hate Machine" (who else cringes every time he daintily sings "rain rain, go away" on Down in It?). Some decent guitar work here, nice to see that Reznor notices that the addition of a guitar makes an album somewhat more aggressive ;-). Last is a much stronger piece, commanding the listener's attention with a powerful lead in riff, followed by other powerful guitar parts, namely the post-chorus single string blitz.
Here, things go downhill for a bit. There is Help Me I am In Hell, which is basically another throw away track (not bad, but not really enjoyable) and Happiness in Slavery, the ultimate gothic-industrial anthem. Ugly and commanding, this track doesn't really do it for me, especially with the power of Last and Wish still ringing in my ears. Luckily, the album picks up with its best track, the enormous Gave Up. Depressing lyrics abound, the track is carried by an incredible chorus riff after some electronic drums steady the verse into it. A real headbanger and also a sing-along, Gave Up takes the cake.
After about 92 tracks of silence, Physical and Suck come in, one being a cover, and nothing special or memorable at all. Suck is a bit better, but more stuck in the "Pretty Hate Machine" era, and not really fitting well on the album, albeit it is a good track.
"Broken" is a good album, but if you're new to NIN, do yourself a favour and check out "The Downward Spiral" first. If tracks like March of the Pigs, Heresy and Big Man with a Gun appeal to you, this just might be your calling. | 1 | neutral | [
"While 1992's \"Broken\" is easily the most aggressive NIN album to date (that being early-mid 2005), it lacks the presence and structure that really carry the full lengths, namely \"The Downward Spiral\" and \"The Fragile\".",
"However, this is not to say that \"Broken\" is a poor album, but in comparison to its predecessor (the synth-pop-rock opus \"Pretty Hate Machine\" and its successor (\"The Downward Spiral\"), \"Broken\" seems to fall on its face a bit.",
"Pinion opens the album with a decent buildup, consisting of about 40 second of one guitar riff getting louder.",
"Not bad, keep in mind though, of the 8 tracks on this EP, this is one of them.",
"Wish is much better, with Reznor's advanced lyrics shining through, easily surpassing those of \"Pretty Hate Machine\" (who else cringes every time he daintily sings \"rain rain, go away\" on Down in It?",
").",
"Some decent guitar work here, nice to see that Reznor notices that the addition of a guitar makes an album somewhat more aggressive ;-).",
"Last is a much stronger piece, commanding the listener's attention with a powerful lead in riff, followed by other powerful guitar parts, namely the post-chorus single string blitz.",
"Here, things go downhill for a bit.",
"There is Help Me I am In Hell, which is basically another throw away track (not bad, but not really enjoyable) and Happiness in Slavery, the ultimate gothic-industrial anthem.",
"Ugly and commanding, this track doesn't really do it for me, especially with the power of Last and Wish still ringing in my ears.",
"Luckily, the album picks up with its best track, the enormous Gave Up.",
"Depressing lyrics abound, the track is carried by an incredible chorus riff after some electronic drums steady the verse into it.",
"A real headbanger and also a sing-along, Gave Up takes the cake.",
"After about 92 tracks of silence, Physical and Suck come in, one being a cover, and nothing special or memorable at all.",
"Suck is a bit better, but more stuck in the \"Pretty Hate Machine\" era, and not really fitting well on the album, albeit it is a good track.",
"\"Broken\" is a good album, but if you're new to NIN, do yourself a favour and check out \"The Downward Spiral\" first.",
"If tracks like March of the Pigs, Heresy and Big Man with a Gun appeal to you, this just might be your calling."
] |
I should have given this one more star, but it won't let me change it...I couldn't believe that my husband got me this along with my processor, because of the price. I thought I could throw stuff in a drawer and save the [...]. That seems really steep, the only thing is, there is no better way to store these items. I can't believe how nice it is to have all the pieces in one place and not have to search for them and risk cutting yourself. It really is great for being organized and safe. I don't think a child could open it, I even have trouble! I wonder if the latch will last a long time. It seems to act weird and sometimes I can't get it to snap shut without pushing really hard. I'm scared I'm going to break it. It's almost impossible to open if you have wet hands, the gizmo is so small and slippery. I do love the item though, and I guess once the money is spent, I don't worry about it, and only enjoy the slickness of having everything that I need several times a week ready and waiting in one very organized holder. | 1 | neutral | [
"I should have given this one more star, but it won't let me change it...",
"I couldn't believe that my husband got me this along with my processor, because of the price.",
"I thought I could throw stuff in a drawer and save the [...",
"].",
"That seems really steep, the only thing is, there is no better way to store these items.",
"I can't believe how nice it is to have all the pieces in one place and not have to search for them and risk cutting yourself.",
"It really is great for being organized and safe.",
"I don't think a child could open it, I even have trouble!",
"I wonder if the latch will last a long time.",
"It seems to act weird and sometimes I can't get it to snap shut without pushing really hard.",
"I'm scared I'm going to break it.",
"It's almost impossible to open if you have wet hands, the gizmo is so small and slippery.",
"I do love the item though, and I guess once the money is spent, I don't worry about it, and only enjoy the slickness of having everything that I need several times a week ready and waiting in one very organized holder."
] |
This gets three stars because it did not give me exactly what I ordered. I ordered 4 of the 100 card lots. So, I wanted 100 Unstable MTG cards per box. Instead, I was given 97 Unstable cards per box, and 4 random MTG commons. I paid for 100 Unstable cards! Not 97 and 4 random cards! Also, the boxes they advertise are not too great. They do the job of holding the cards, but that's about it. I'm definitely getting a new case for these. If you want to buy, don't take it too seriously. Don't expect all 100 cards to be Unstable, and expect multiples. | 1 | neutral | [
"This gets three stars because it did not give me exactly what I ordered.",
"I ordered 4 of the 100 card lots.",
"So, I wanted 100 Unstable MTG cards per box.",
"Instead, I was given 97 Unstable cards per box, and 4 random MTG commons.",
"I paid for 100 Unstable cards!",
"Not 97 and 4 random cards!",
"Also, the boxes they advertise are not too great.",
"They do the job of holding the cards, but that's about it.",
"I'm definitely getting a new case for these.",
"If you want to buy, don't take it too seriously.",
"Don't expect all 100 cards to be Unstable, and expect multiples."
] |
The "Whole Nine Yards" is a mildly entertaining and passably enjoyable affair. It neither exults nor repels, neither makes one laugh uncontrollably nor cringe; it just is. There is nothing about this film that in any way distinguishes it from the sea of hit man/mob comedies floating around.
And let me say this, if it weren't for Bruce Willis and his wonderfully funny performance as the sensitive hit man, Jimmy `The Tulip' Tudeski, "The Whole Nine Yards" would've been a complete disaster. Willis, even through some of the weaker scenes, elevates the performances of his costars (Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge, and Rosaana Arquette) and the overall quality of the film with his powerful star presence.
Honestly, I expected more from this film. More laughs, to be precise. When you have a film and its whole premise is ridiculous to begin with and with each scene gets progressively goofier, one expects some serious humor. As things get sillier and sillier, the laughs slowly drift away until you are left stone-faced during the intended "hysterical moments" of the climax. A disappointment. | 1 | neutral | [
"The \"Whole Nine Yards\" is a mildly entertaining and passably enjoyable affair.",
"It neither exults nor repels, neither makes one laugh uncontrollably nor cringe; it just is.",
"There is nothing about this film that in any way distinguishes it from the sea of hit man/mob comedies floating around.",
"And let me say this, if it weren't for Bruce Willis and his wonderfully funny performance as the sensitive hit man, Jimmy `The Tulip' Tudeski, \"The Whole Nine Yards\" would've been a complete disaster.",
"Willis, even through some of the weaker scenes, elevates the performances of his costars (Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge, and Rosaana Arquette) and the overall quality of the film with his powerful star presence.",
"Honestly, I expected more from this film.",
"More laughs, to be precise.",
"When you have a film and its whole premise is ridiculous to begin with and with each scene gets progressively goofier, one expects some serious humor.",
"As things get sillier and sillier, the laughs slowly drift away until you are left stone-faced during the intended \"hysterical moments\" of the climax.",
"A disappointment."
] |
NYC terror attack: Halloween horror would have been much worse without top notch NYPD
On Tuesday in New York Sayfullo Saipov 29 a green-card holder from Uzbekistan in Central Asia and resident of Florida responded to the call.
He drove his rented Home Depot truck from West Houston Street onto a Hudson River Park bike path one of New Yorkâs most beloved amenities. Within ten minutes eight people were killed and 15 were injured. A note found in the truck law enforcement officials said indicated that Saipov committed the attack out of devotion to ISIS.
Saipov might have killed even more people had the NYPD not been the nationâs premier counterterrorism force. NYPD officers showed up in force minutes after the attack began shooting Saipov before he could kill even more New Yorkers.
But it takes a pack to raise a lone wolf. Even if Saipov acted alone he was part of a growing ideological fraternity numbering in the tens of thousands who now inhabit every region of the globe.
Like the attacks in these cities the Halloween attack in Lower Manhattan was aimed at inflicting maximum carnage. Schools in the area were letting out students shortly after three oâclock when Saipov drove his rented truck off West Houston Street onto the bike path.
There was no shortage of targets. The streets between West Houston and Chambers were crowded with parents picking up their costumed children prepared for an evening of trick-or-treating. Pedestrians and bikers on the Hudson River bike path were stunned and helpless as Saipov careened his weapon through the crowd.
Saipov might have killed even more people had the NYPD not been the nationâs premier counterterrorism force. NYPD officers showed up in force minutes after the attack began shooting Saipov before he could kill even more New Yorkers. | 1 | neutral | [
"NYC terror attack: Halloween horror would have been much worse without top notch NYPD\nOn Tuesday in New York Sayfullo Saipov 29 a green-card holder from Uzbekistan in Central Asia and resident of Florida responded to the call.",
"He drove his rented Home Depot truck from West Houston Street onto a Hudson River Park bike path one of New Yorkâs most beloved amenities.",
"Within ten minutes eight people were killed and 15 were injured.",
"A note found in the truck law enforcement officials said indicated that Saipov committed the attack out of devotion to ISIS.",
"Saipov might have killed even more people had the NYPD not been the nationâs premier counterterrorism force.",
"NYPD officers showed up in force minutes after the attack began shooting Saipov before he could kill even more New Yorkers.",
"But it takes a pack to raise a lone wolf.",
"Even if Saipov acted alone he was part of a growing ideological fraternity numbering in the tens of thousands who now inhabit every region of the globe.",
"Like the attacks in these cities the Halloween attack in Lower Manhattan was aimed at inflicting maximum carnage.",
"Schools in the area were letting out students shortly after three oâclock when Saipov drove his rented truck off West Houston Street onto the bike path.",
"There was no shortage of targets.",
"The streets between West Houston and Chambers were crowded with parents picking up their costumed children prepared for an evening of trick-or-treating.",
"Pedestrians and bikers on the Hudson River bike path were stunned and helpless as Saipov careened his weapon through the crowd.",
"Saipov might have killed even more people had the NYPD not been the nationâs premier counterterrorism force.",
"NYPD officers showed up in force minutes after the attack began shooting Saipov before he could kill even more New Yorkers."
] |
I just got my new pan today. I was so excited because I wanted to make a big pot of chili. But after the chili was done I found it stained my pan. I thought only plastic would get stains. and on the bottom of the pan it had rainbow marks from heat damage. So that told me it must have burned. But I never put the pot on high. At one point I did put it on just below high and not for long. I guess I thought this would be so much better then it turned out to be. I did order in the past the 2 1/2 quart size and I love those pans. I use them all the time and never have had any problems. The one with the glass lid. I may even return this I don't know what to do.
Hope this helps you! | 1 | neutral | [
"I just got my new pan today.",
"I was so excited because I wanted to make a big pot of chili.",
"But after the chili was done I found it stained my pan.",
"I thought only plastic would get stains.",
"and on the bottom of the pan it had rainbow marks from heat damage.",
"So that told me it must have burned.",
"But I never put the pot on high.",
"At one point I did put it on just below high and not for long.",
"I guess I thought this would be so much better then it turned out to be.",
"I did order in the past the 2 1/2 quart size and I love those pans.",
"I use them all the time and never have had any problems.",
"The one with the glass lid.",
"I may even return this I don't know what to do.",
"Hope this helps you!"
] |
I live in a highrise appartment building in New York City and have had significant problems with this wireless setup on the 802.11b standard. I disabled the WEP Security hoping that it would help performance, however; I keep getting disconnected from the access poing every 20 minutes on average. I also get dropped every time I answer my phone 2.4ghz phone. The problem is not so much with Linksys, the product does work as advertised, but with the overcrowding of the 2.4ghz band. The FCC allows manufactures to produce many types of products in the 2.44ghz range (802.11b).
I plan on returning my unit and see if I have better luck with the Linksys WAP54A which runs at exclusive 5 GHZ bandwith.
Overall, I will say that the product does work as expected, once you update the firmware to the latest version. | 1 | neutral | [
"I live in a highrise appartment building in New York City and have had significant problems with this wireless setup on the 802.",
"11b standard.",
"I disabled the WEP Security hoping that it would help performance, however; I keep getting disconnected from the access poing every 20 minutes on average.",
"I also get dropped every time I answer my phone 2.",
"4ghz phone.",
"The problem is not so much with Linksys, the product does work as advertised, but with the overcrowding of the 2.",
"4ghz band.",
"The FCC allows manufactures to produce many types of products in the 2.",
"44ghz range (802.",
"11b).",
"I plan on returning my unit and see if I have better luck with the Linksys WAP54A which runs at exclusive 5 GHZ bandwith.",
"Overall, I will say that the product does work as expected, once you update the firmware to the latest version."
] |
Lord Trahan Randall was near to proposing to Lady Caroline years ago when she first came out. Seeing her in a dowdy gown, severe hairstyle, and thick glasses, he is glad he did not marry her. However, Lady Caroline has not forgotten the handsome rake and what he doesn't know is that she's delibarately trying to make herself unattractive to other potential suitors, waiting for Lord Randall to come around. When he scoffs at the idea of a bandy of ladies exacting revenge on gentlemen, she decides to teach him a lesson about what a lady truly is capable of doing. She kidnaps Lord Randall, and wearing the disguise of a female highwayman, seeks to seduce him for one night's enjoyment before allowing him to return to high society, never knowing who she truly is. Things change, however, as you might expect. This so-called Regency romance is quite short and very, very unrealistic for the time period. A well-born lady would never seek to ruin herself without a thought of marrying the gentleman. It would have been a fate worse than death at the time and is only a modern sensibility. However, the characters are enjoyable, and put into a different situation, I would probably love to read more about them. | 1 | neutral | [
"Lord Trahan Randall was near to proposing to Lady Caroline years ago when she first came out.",
"Seeing her in a dowdy gown, severe hairstyle, and thick glasses, he is glad he did not marry her.",
"However, Lady Caroline has not forgotten the handsome rake and what he doesn't know is that she's delibarately trying to make herself unattractive to other potential suitors, waiting for Lord Randall to come around.",
"When he scoffs at the idea of a bandy of ladies exacting revenge on gentlemen, she decides to teach him a lesson about what a lady truly is capable of doing.",
"She kidnaps Lord Randall, and wearing the disguise of a female highwayman, seeks to seduce him for one night's enjoyment before allowing him to return to high society, never knowing who she truly is.",
"Things change, however, as you might expect.",
"This so-called Regency romance is quite short and very, very unrealistic for the time period.",
"A well-born lady would never seek to ruin herself without a thought of marrying the gentleman.",
"It would have been a fate worse than death at the time and is only a modern sensibility.",
"However, the characters are enjoyable, and put into a different situation, I would probably love to read more about them."
] |
I really wanted this to be a great program. I have separate video, and music software as well as Photoshop, Corel, vector imaging software, etc, so basically, I have pretty much everything I need to do what this software does, but better. I was hoping that this software would make it easier having most of it all in one program. Unfortunately, this software didn't deliver. I think the only imaging software that I don't have, and would give my right arm for, is QuarkXpress.
I think this might be a good program for a beginner. For me, I think they would be better off concentrating on doing one thing very well rather than several things half as well. I tried to install this on my Windows 7 computer and it wouldn't install. It installed fine on my Windows 10 machine even though I didn't want to install it on that computer. The price for this software isn't too bad, though, for what it does. | 1 | neutral | [
"I really wanted this to be a great program.",
"I have separate video, and music software as well as Photoshop, Corel, vector imaging software, etc, so basically, I have pretty much everything I need to do what this software does, but better.",
"I was hoping that this software would make it easier having most of it all in one program.",
"Unfortunately, this software didn't deliver.",
"I think the only imaging software that I don't have, and would give my right arm for, is QuarkXpress.",
"I think this might be a good program for a beginner.",
"For me, I think they would be better off concentrating on doing one thing very well rather than several things half as well.",
"I tried to install this on my Windows 7 computer and it wouldn't install.",
"It installed fine on my Windows 10 machine even though I didn't want to install it on that computer.",
"The price for this software isn't too bad, though, for what it does."
] |
I like to carry a notebook with me everywhere I go. For years, my notebook of choice has been Field Notes. I love their price, their durability, their light weight, and their small size. After awhile using the basic, craft paper Field Notes notebooks, I noticed that the constant wear and tear of keeping one in my back pocket all the time was crumpling these notebooks and ruining the craft paper covers. All in all, that's fine, because I don't much care about how my notebooks look. But since these leather covers are inexpensive, I decided hey, let's add a bit of class to the utility of my notebooks.
In terms of class, this was a good choice. The grain on my Flight Jacket cover is very tight, and the staining job is excellent. This easily looks like a piece of leather I might have paid twice what I did for.
Unfortunately, because this leather cover is supposed to *do* something, looks must come secondary to function, and that's where I'm having problems. These feature a large pocket on the inside of each cover, and the sole method of securing your notebook is inserting the notebook's front and/or back into these pockets. Therein lies the problem with Field Notes notebooks.
So your standard Field Notes notebook is made of paper. The problem with paper is that it's not very rigid, and trying to wiggle a craft paper cover into a super tight-fitting leather pocket is an effort against futility. The pockets just need to be a wee bit bigger. There's not enough clearance inside the pocket to "wiggle" the page in, so you're stuck trying to use rigidity tricks you might have learned trying to fit way more papers into your high school Trapper Keeper than it was ever designed to fit. As you probably remember from high school, those efforts occasionally resulted in disaster, like when you ripped a giant gash in your Macbeth rough draft. So far the lives of two very innocent Field Notes notebooks have been lost in the effort to tame this beast of a leather cover, and I can't help but wonder, o ye gods of manufacturing, what dark and terrible costs are brought by these covers that an extra 2mm on the pockets cannot be justified by the protecting of innocent notebooks!
Once you get your notebook securely fitted, the cover is great. It just sucks I'm made to dread the day when I will have used every last page in the notebook that's in there and be forced to replace it.
Also, the cover isn't pre-creased. When it first arrives, it's just a flat piece of leather with two pockets. There's an obvious reason for this, which is that the notebooks that it works with are all different thicknesses (so you need to be able to make your own crease), but it was kind of a surprise to me when I first opened the thing. | 1 | neutral | [
"I like to carry a notebook with me everywhere I go.",
"For years, my notebook of choice has been Field Notes.",
"I love their price, their durability, their light weight, and their small size.",
"After awhile using the basic, craft paper Field Notes notebooks, I noticed that the constant wear and tear of keeping one in my back pocket all the time was crumpling these notebooks and ruining the craft paper covers.",
"All in all, that's fine, because I don't much care about how my notebooks look.",
"But since these leather covers are inexpensive, I decided hey, let's add a bit of class to the utility of my notebooks.",
"In terms of class, this was a good choice.",
"The grain on my Flight Jacket cover is very tight, and the staining job is excellent.",
"This easily looks like a piece of leather I might have paid twice what I did for.",
"Unfortunately, because this leather cover is supposed to *do* something, looks must come secondary to function, and that's where I'm having problems.",
"These feature a large pocket on the inside of each cover, and the sole method of securing your notebook is inserting the notebook's front and/or back into these pockets.",
"Therein lies the problem with Field Notes notebooks.",
"So your standard Field Notes notebook is made of paper.",
"The problem with paper is that it's not very rigid, and trying to wiggle a craft paper cover into a super tight-fitting leather pocket is an effort against futility.",
"The pockets just need to be a wee bit bigger.",
"There's not enough clearance inside the pocket to \"wiggle\" the page in, so you're stuck trying to use rigidity tricks you might have learned trying to fit way more papers into your high school Trapper Keeper than it was ever designed to fit.",
"As you probably remember from high school, those efforts occasionally resulted in disaster, like when you ripped a giant gash in your Macbeth rough draft.",
"So far the lives of two very innocent Field Notes notebooks have been lost in the effort to tame this beast of a leather cover, and I can't help but wonder, o ye gods of manufacturing, what dark and terrible costs are brought by these covers that an extra 2mm on the pockets cannot be justified by the protecting of innocent notebooks!",
"Once you get your notebook securely fitted, the cover is great.",
"It just sucks I'm made to dread the day when I will have used every last page in the notebook that's in there and be forced to replace it.",
"Also, the cover isn't pre-creased.",
"When it first arrives, it's just a flat piece of leather with two pockets.",
"There's an obvious reason for this, which is that the notebooks that it works with are all different thicknesses (so you need to be able to make your own crease), but it was kind of a surprise to me when I first opened the thing."
] |
Edited to add: took the shade out for the first this this season (the second year) and one of the poles snapped. The wind wasn't very strong. I'm disappointed. We probably used it 6 times last year. I'm hoping I can get a replacement pole somewhere.
this shade was GREAT over the summer at the beach. it was a lifesaver to keep the baby out of the sun and wind. HOWEVER, it is really difficult to set up and take down and nearly impossible for one person to do alone. When there is wind it gets even more difficult. I love it once set up, but beware it take a little work. | 1 | neutral | [
"Edited to add: took the shade out for the first this this season (the second year) and one of the poles snapped.",
"The wind wasn't very strong.",
"I'm disappointed.",
"We probably used it 6 times last year.",
"I'm hoping I can get a replacement pole somewhere.",
"this shade was GREAT over the summer at the beach.",
"it was a lifesaver to keep the baby out of the sun and wind.",
"HOWEVER, it is really difficult to set up and take down and nearly impossible for one person to do alone.",
"When there is wind it gets even more difficult.",
"I love it once set up, but beware it take a little work."
] |
I was really looking forward to this product for my son. It comes with a coloring book and a stylus that looks like a cute chunky crayon. My son was thrilled when he opened it. I told him that he could use the "crayon" with the free app that comes with it and he couldn't wait. I searched all over the app store only to finally discover that it was not compatible with his tablet, nor on my other tablet. I was able to get it on my phone though. I tried to use the QR scanner to scan the coloring book page onto my phone so that he could color, but the QR scanner function would not work with the book whatsoever.
He did like playing with the app alone though. However, I don't really like the idea of him playing games on my phone often, especially since I have a fear of him dropping it. He does use the coloring book like a normal coloring book and he uses the stylus pen with his other coloring games on his tablet. I'm happy that although he couldn't use the app on his tablet, at least he can still use the coloring book and stylus crayon in other ways.
Disclaimer: I received this magical coloring book plus stylus crayon, complimentary, in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions expressed here are solely my own. No other compensation was received. | 1 | neutral | [
"I was really looking forward to this product for my son.",
"It comes with a coloring book and a stylus that looks like a cute chunky crayon.",
"My son was thrilled when he opened it.",
"I told him that he could use the \"crayon\" with the free app that comes with it and he couldn't wait.",
"I searched all over the app store only to finally discover that it was not compatible with his tablet, nor on my other tablet.",
"I was able to get it on my phone though.",
"I tried to use the QR scanner to scan the coloring book page onto my phone so that he could color, but the QR scanner function would not work with the book whatsoever.",
"He did like playing with the app alone though.",
"However, I don't really like the idea of him playing games on my phone often, especially since I have a fear of him dropping it.",
"He does use the coloring book like a normal coloring book and he uses the stylus pen with his other coloring games on his tablet.",
"I'm happy that although he couldn't use the app on his tablet, at least he can still use the coloring book and stylus crayon in other ways.",
"Disclaimer: I received this magical coloring book plus stylus crayon, complimentary, in exchange for an honest review.",
"All of the opinions expressed here are solely my own.",
"No other compensation was received."
] |
LOL always a but huh?
well my fault..i was impulsive..as..always..i had these kind of cases for my IPhones but they had colors..i was disappointed for my new HTC Evo V ..all I could find was this one..just black..im a girl/woman...we like our things to be...pretty...i wanted a nice pink one...also one i had for my IPhone has covers for all open ports..thats what made it extra special..this one..does not..port where i charge my batt is still open :O/ that means dust and anything else can get in it..and the main reason i settled with the black one here is these kind of cases are the..only..ones that do have covers...well..this one ..does..NOT.... :O*(
i rec'd it a day early....but good and bad..because as i search more...i found it...IN BRITE PRETTY PINK "with" all ports covered!!! Im sending this back I immediately without hesatation ordered the other.. (its not called superleggera) so hoping just as good...wont send this back till that arrives just in case...because they really are the ultimate best cases to PROTECT your phone...
I'll update ya and give you the name of the other place in case you want colors..they had tons of colors!
Byeee for now | 1 | neutral | [
"LOL always a but huh?",
"well my fault..",
"i was impulsive..",
"as..",
"always..",
"i had these kind of cases for my IPhones but they had colors..",
"i was disappointed for my new HTC Evo V..",
"all I could find was this one..",
"just black..",
"im a girl/woman...",
"we like our things to be...",
"pretty...",
"i wanted a nice pink one...",
"also one i had for my IPhone has covers for all open ports..",
"thats what made it extra special..",
"this one..",
"does not..",
"port where i charge my batt is still open :O/ that means dust and anything else can get in it..",
"and the main reason i settled with the black one here is these kind of cases are the..",
"only..",
"ones that do have covers...",
"well..",
"this one..",
"does..",
"NOT....",
":O*(\ni rec'd it a day early....",
"but good and bad..",
"because as i search more...",
"i found it...",
"IN BRITE PRETTY PINK \"with\" all ports covered!!!",
"Im sending this back I immediately without hesatation ordered the other..",
"(its not called superleggera) so hoping just as good...",
"wont send this back till that arrives just in case...",
"because they really are the ultimate best cases to PROTECT your phone...",
"I'll update ya and give you the name of the other place in case you want colors..",
"they had tons of colors!",
"Byeee for now"
] |
...it's just one long trek,albeit through a lot of pretty scenery. The game is extremely easy to play,and it does get repetitious after the 1000th monster is killed. The reason I stick with it?Frankly,it's to see what sort of landscape I will find myself in..the graphics and music are very lovely,but the game is boring. After you get your parties stats up to a reasonable level,they set upon the enemies they encounter,and you are just basically watching. I felt the same way about the first DS,but I stuck with it for the same reasons I mentioned here. I think the monsters are quite interesting,and the bosses are ,as well..but everything is so easy to kill!!I do believe the games creators have tried very hard to give us a beautiful,huge and interesting game to play,but there really is no adventure involved:it's one battle after another. I wish I could give it 5 stars. | 1 | neutral | [
"...",
"it's just one long trek,albeit through a lot of pretty scenery.",
"The game is extremely easy to play,and it does get repetitious after the 1000th monster is killed.",
"The reason I stick with it?",
"Frankly,it's to see what sort of landscape I will find myself in..",
"the graphics and music are very lovely,but the game is boring.",
"After you get your parties stats up to a reasonable level,they set upon the enemies they encounter,and you are just basically watching.",
"I felt the same way about the first DS,but I stuck with it for the same reasons I mentioned here.",
"I think the monsters are quite interesting,and the bosses are ,as well..",
"but everything is so easy to kill!!",
"I do believe the games creators have tried very hard to give us a beautiful,huge and interesting game to play,but there really is no adventure involved:it's one battle after another.",
"I wish I could give it 5 stars."
] |
They work. The radio circuitry is great and the features work well.
The antenna are CHEAP and separate and come off above the quick disconnect. You really just have to glue them together. The quick disconnects are fine regardless. The antenna performance is terrible ... if you keep these get better antenna.
They last 3 days, while on standby, on battery ... much less if you use them. Either 6 Alkaline AA or 8 rechargeable, doesn't matter.
The AC to DC charger is OK but charges very very slow. It does not charge in stages either, so don't leave them plugged in too much. However, it charges the batteries very evenly.
You can not use the radio while plugged in to the AC to DC charger.
The DC adapter does not include any noise reduction. If your power source is noisy then your TX/RX is going to suck really bad.
All in all they were OK but just could not perform to what I needed. | 1 | neutral | [
"They work.",
"The radio circuitry is great and the features work well.",
"The antenna are CHEAP and separate and come off above the quick disconnect.",
"You really just have to glue them together.",
"The quick disconnects are fine regardless.",
"The antenna performance is terrible...",
"if you keep these get better antenna.",
"They last 3 days, while on standby, on battery...",
"much less if you use them.",
"Either 6 Alkaline AA or 8 rechargeable, doesn't matter.",
"The AC to DC charger is OK but charges very very slow.",
"It does not charge in stages either, so don't leave them plugged in too much.",
"However, it charges the batteries very evenly.",
"You can not use the radio while plugged in to the AC to DC charger.",
"The DC adapter does not include any noise reduction.",
"If your power source is noisy then your TX/RX is going to suck really bad.",
"All in all they were OK but just could not perform to what I needed."
] |
Senate panel has not decided whether Trump campaign colluded with Russia
The Senate Intelligence Committee has not reached a conclusion whether the Trump campaign cooperated with Moscow during the 2016 election the panel’s leaders said Wednesday distancing themselves from President Trump’s claim that the issue is a “hoax.”
Steele now a private investigator investigated Trump while working last year for a Washington opposition research firm Fusion GPS. The firm’s founder former journalist Glenn Simpson testified in August before the Senate Judiciary Committee which also is investigating Russian election interference.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is leaving some areas that it initially had investigated to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III including Trump ’s firing of FBI Director James B. Comey in May Burr said.
Mueller is conducting a criminal investigation into whether Trump colluded with Russia and other issues including whether the firing of Comey involved obstruction of justice.
CAPTION California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision. (Sept. 11 2017) California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision. (Sept. 11 2017) CAPTION California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision. (Sept. 11 2017) California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision. (Sept. 11 2017) CAPTION In a statement Wednesday morning Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reaffirmed his commitment to President Trump's agenda addressing what he called "erroneous rumors" in news reports this morning. In a statement Wednesday morning Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reaffirmed his commitment to President Trump's agenda addressing what he called "erroneous rumors" in news reports this morning. CAPTION George Clooney and Julianne Moore talk about the importance of art and politics during their visit to the L.A. Times studio at the Toronto International Film Festival. Clooney directed Moore Matt Damon and Oscar Isaac in the comedy "Suburbicon " which is screening at the festival. Between its comic bits about crimes gone wrong the film takes a critical look at white privilege in 1950s America. George Clooney and Julianne Moore talk about the importance of art and politics during their visit to the L.A. Times studio at the Toronto International Film Festival. Clooney directed Moore Matt Damon and Oscar Isaac in the comedy "Suburbicon " which is screening at the festival. Between its comic bits about crimes gone wrong the film takes a critical look at white privilege in 1950s America. CAPTION Mayor Garcetti responds to Trump administration ending DACA program. Mayor Garcetti responds to Trump administration ending DACA program. CAPTION Donald Trump has given wildly divergent statements about the DACA program. Donald Trump has given wildly divergent statements about the DACA program. | 1 | neutral | [
"Senate panel has not decided whether Trump campaign colluded with Russia\nThe Senate Intelligence Committee has not reached a conclusion whether the Trump campaign cooperated with Moscow during the 2016 election the panel’s leaders said Wednesday distancing themselves from President Trump’s claim that the issue is a “hoax.",
"”\nSteele now a private investigator investigated Trump while working last year for a Washington opposition research firm Fusion GPS.",
"The firm’s founder former journalist Glenn Simpson testified in August before the Senate Judiciary Committee which also is investigating Russian election interference.",
"The Senate Intelligence Committee is leaving some areas that it initially had investigated to Special Counsel Robert S.",
"Mueller III including Trump ’s firing of FBI Director James B.",
"Comey in May Burr said.",
"Mueller is conducting a criminal investigation into whether Trump colluded with Russia and other issues including whether the firing of Comey involved obstruction of justice.",
"CAPTION California Atty.",
"Gen.",
"Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision.",
"(Sept.",
"11 2017) California Atty.",
"Gen.",
"Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision.",
"(Sept.",
"11 2017) CAPTION California Atty.",
"Gen.",
"Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision.",
"(Sept.",
"11 2017) California Atty.",
"Gen.",
"Xavier Becerra says he filed the suit separately instead of joining one already filed by 15 other states because the state and its economy will be especially harmed by the decision.",
"(Sept.",
"11 2017) CAPTION In a statement Wednesday morning Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reaffirmed his commitment to President Trump's agenda addressing what he called \"erroneous rumors\" in news reports this morning.",
"In a statement Wednesday morning Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reaffirmed his commitment to President Trump's agenda addressing what he called \"erroneous rumors\" in news reports this morning.",
"CAPTION George Clooney and Julianne Moore talk about the importance of art and politics during their visit to the L.",
"A. Times studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.",
"Clooney directed Moore Matt Damon and Oscar Isaac in the comedy \"Suburbicon \" which is screening at the festival.",
"Between its comic bits about crimes gone wrong the film takes a critical look at white privilege in 1950s America.",
"George Clooney and Julianne Moore talk about the importance of art and politics during their visit to the L.",
"A. Times studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.",
"Clooney directed Moore Matt Damon and Oscar Isaac in the comedy \"Suburbicon \" which is screening at the festival.",
"Between its comic bits about crimes gone wrong the film takes a critical look at white privilege in 1950s America.",
"CAPTION Mayor Garcetti responds to Trump administration ending DACA program.",
"Mayor Garcetti responds to Trump administration ending DACA program.",
"CAPTION Donald Trump has given wildly divergent statements about the DACA program.",
"Donald Trump has given wildly divergent statements about the DACA program."
] |
We were trying out various Mountain House products before buying large quantities for our family emergency food stocks. This product was surprisingly good and easy to make. I do recommend stirring again at the 4 minute mark. The serving sizes were bigger than I expected. I gave my two kids about a cup of finished product and still had a lot left over for me. In addition, this product was surprisingly filling. You could easily feed two people on one pouch even after a day of hiking.
I thought it was better than everyone else in my family. Might just need a bit more seasoning. All in all, we will buy it again. | 1 | neutral | [
"We were trying out various Mountain House products before buying large quantities for our family emergency food stocks.",
"This product was surprisingly good and easy to make.",
"I do recommend stirring again at the 4 minute mark.",
"The serving sizes were bigger than I expected.",
"I gave my two kids about a cup of finished product and still had a lot left over for me.",
"In addition, this product was surprisingly filling.",
"You could easily feed two people on one pouch even after a day of hiking.",
"I thought it was better than everyone else in my family.",
"Might just need a bit more seasoning.",
"All in all, we will buy it again."
] |
I guess you can't beat the price on this meter and I love its size and features but after 1.5 years of light DIY use (maybe once a month average) and a dozen or so readings with the clamp meter, it's become flakey. Measuring AC or DC amperage often reports 0 when I know amps are flowing. I eventually found that if I wiggle the setting wheel slightly, it will suddenly start reporting amps. The zero point seems to get reset by the wiggle and I get a weird reading. So I have to keep repeating my measurement, zero the meter near the wire, clamp it, and if I get 0, wiggle the wheel and try again. Sometimes this still leads to abnormally low readings instead of 0 so repetition is necessary to look for the one that comes up the most. Pretty frustrating and I keep questioning if I got an accurate reading. Capacitance measurement has the same sort of problem.
I managed to fix it by taking it apart and cleaning the contacts under the wheel. Under the wheel are uncoated copper sweeps that press against silver contacts on the circuit board. They left dark markings in a circular path that were probably fragments of copper oxidation that allowed electricity to flow where it shouldn't. This probably would not have been a problem if all contacts were gold plated. I was able to wipe off the marks but that also wiped off a light layer of grease, after which point the wheel felt like it was grinding, but the amp and capacitance settings worked flawlessly. I will need to purchase "electronics lubricant" or "dielectric grease" to replace what I wiped off.
I assume the wheel will need to be cleaned every year or so but at least it's easy to open. Just remove the batteries, remove two screws from the back. Pull the back off (no clips or glue). Remove 3 black screws that hold the green circuit board down. Pull out the circuit board enough to clean the contacts, then put back together.
This is a great meter for the price, but it does have drawbacks beyond the poor quality wheel. Measuring DC amps is tricky. Basically, you must hold the clamps right next to what you want to measure, press Zero repeatedly until it stays near zero, then clamp and read the screen without rotating the jaws. Basically, any rotation or movement in space can change the reading significantly because it changes how it interacts with the magnetic fields of what's being measured. I thought that was just the nature of magnetic amp measurement until I bought an expensive Fluke 325 meter. Once you zero the fluke, you can rotate it and it rarely fluctuates. It's much easier to get an accurate reading with and readings are repeatable. However, its larger jaws can make things harder when working with small projects and it has one less digit of accuracy. Though realistically, the 0.001 digit of the uni-t meter fluctuates so much with each repeated reading it's pretty useless. | 1 | neutral | [
"I guess you can't beat the price on this meter and I love its size and features but after 1.",
"5 years of light DIY use (maybe once a month average) and a dozen or so readings with the clamp meter, it's become flakey.",
"Measuring AC or DC amperage often reports 0 when I know amps are flowing.",
"I eventually found that if I wiggle the setting wheel slightly, it will suddenly start reporting amps.",
"The zero point seems to get reset by the wiggle and I get a weird reading.",
"So I have to keep repeating my measurement, zero the meter near the wire, clamp it, and if I get 0, wiggle the wheel and try again.",
"Sometimes this still leads to abnormally low readings instead of 0 so repetition is necessary to look for the one that comes up the most.",
"Pretty frustrating and I keep questioning if I got an accurate reading.",
"Capacitance measurement has the same sort of problem.",
"I managed to fix it by taking it apart and cleaning the contacts under the wheel.",
"Under the wheel are uncoated copper sweeps that press against silver contacts on the circuit board.",
"They left dark markings in a circular path that were probably fragments of copper oxidation that allowed electricity to flow where it shouldn't.",
"This probably would not have been a problem if all contacts were gold plated.",
"I was able to wipe off the marks but that also wiped off a light layer of grease, after which point the wheel felt like it was grinding, but the amp and capacitance settings worked flawlessly.",
"I will need to purchase \"electronics lubricant\" or \"dielectric grease\" to replace what I wiped off.",
"I assume the wheel will need to be cleaned every year or so but at least it's easy to open.",
"Just remove the batteries, remove two screws from the back.",
"Pull the back off (no clips or glue).",
"Remove 3 black screws that hold the green circuit board down.",
"Pull out the circuit board enough to clean the contacts, then put back together.",
"This is a great meter for the price, but it does have drawbacks beyond the poor quality wheel.",
"Measuring DC amps is tricky.",
"Basically, you must hold the clamps right next to what you want to measure, press Zero repeatedly until it stays near zero, then clamp and read the screen without rotating the jaws.",
"Basically, any rotation or movement in space can change the reading significantly because it changes how it interacts with the magnetic fields of what's being measured.",
"I thought that was just the nature of magnetic amp measurement until I bought an expensive Fluke 325 meter.",
"Once you zero the fluke, you can rotate it and it rarely fluctuates.",
"It's much easier to get an accurate reading with and readings are repeatable.",
"However, its larger jaws can make things harder when working with small projects and it has one less digit of accuracy.",
"Though realistically, the 0.",
"001 digit of the uni-t meter fluctuates so much with each repeated reading it's pretty useless."
] |
OK, so....does it kill moss? You better believe it...it kills the hell out of it. The problem is it also kills every other single living organism...plant or animal...that it comes in contact with. I, perhaps foolishly, thought this stuff would kill ONLY moss, considering it's called "Moss Out". So, yes, within a few hours, the moss was already turning brown. Unfortunately, so was all of the lawn at the perimeter of the patio, which is now completely dead. If I had known this was how the product would work, I would have save some time, grabbed the gasoline can from my garage, and just poured gasoline all over the back yard, and the effect would have been similar. The moss would be dead, as would everything else. Soooo...if you have moss growing on or near something that is NOT alive, then go for it...this product kicks ass. However, if you, like me, have a plant or some grass or something in your yard near your patio....just save yourself some money and light your back yard on fire. That'll kill moss too, and you won't have to wait for 2 day's shipping.... | 1 | neutral | [
"OK, so....",
"does it kill moss?",
"You better believe it...",
"it kills the hell out of it.",
"The problem is it also kills every other single living organism...",
"plant or animal...",
"that it comes in contact with.",
"I, perhaps foolishly, thought this stuff would kill ONLY moss, considering it's called \"Moss Out\".",
"So, yes, within a few hours, the moss was already turning brown.",
"Unfortunately, so was all of the lawn at the perimeter of the patio, which is now completely dead.",
"If I had known this was how the product would work, I would have save some time, grabbed the gasoline can from my garage, and just poured gasoline all over the back yard, and the effect would have been similar.",
"The moss would be dead, as would everything else.",
"Soooo...",
"if you have moss growing on or near something that is NOT alive, then go for it...",
"this product kicks ass.",
"However, if you, like me, have a plant or some grass or something in your yard near your patio....",
"just save yourself some money and light your back yard on fire.",
"That'll kill moss too, and you won't have to wait for 2 day's shipping...."
] |
I don't understand why these toy companies keep making these toys where in order to play with some parts of the toy, you have to sit on other parts of it! This is especially frustrating when the part you sit on makes noise. That virtually takes nearly all the learning part out of this toy, which is unfortunate because it has a lot of learning potential otherwise. Another reviewer mentioned turning off the sound to the track part of the train when the rest of the train station is being played with which would solve the problem of the sound, but I still don't think sitting on part of a toy is acceptable. It boggles the mind why these toy companies don't see these problems (we have the same problem with the fisher price a-z learning zoo). When you spend $40-60 on a toy...this should not be an issue. Still, my 2 year olds like this toy for the most part and have for several months, so it appears to not matter as far as the fun goes, but it would have a whole lot more learning potential and value if the issue of sitting on the toy was fixed. I would propose making these toys in a semi-circle fashion where you could sit in the middle and rotate to the parts you're playing with. Hope Fisher Price and Vtech are listening... | 1 | neutral | [
"I don't understand why these toy companies keep making these toys where in order to play with some parts of the toy, you have to sit on other parts of it!",
"This is especially frustrating when the part you sit on makes noise.",
"That virtually takes nearly all the learning part out of this toy, which is unfortunate because it has a lot of learning potential otherwise.",
"Another reviewer mentioned turning off the sound to the track part of the train when the rest of the train station is being played with which would solve the problem of the sound, but I still don't think sitting on part of a toy is acceptable.",
"It boggles the mind why these toy companies don't see these problems (we have the same problem with the fisher price a-z learning zoo).",
"When you spend $40-60 on a toy...",
"this should not be an issue.",
"Still, my 2 year olds like this toy for the most part and have for several months, so it appears to not matter as far as the fun goes, but it would have a whole lot more learning potential and value if the issue of sitting on the toy was fixed.",
"I would propose making these toys in a semi-circle fashion where you could sit in the middle and rotate to the parts you're playing with.",
"Hope Fisher Price and Vtech are listening..."
] |
Better than a cheap gig bag, or paper board case, but NEVER try and put any guitar in these things that you care about or has any value. This case does not hold fender telecasters tightly. I bought a few of these cases for my little kids and they have cheap fender squire guitars, so no worries. If they had to actually take them outside, I would be concerned that the case would fall open, as the case locks are weak and the case is flimsy. The guitars slide around inside the cases, and the padding is not glued well. The solution, partially is to leave the straps on so the guitar has less room to move around inside the case where the body is. Who cares about the finish on a kids guitar. I want to say what do you expect for 40 bucks?, but I have Gibson and Fender cases for my expensive guitars I keep at home that actually fit the guitars for 70 bucks, and they are not made in China like the cheap ones I am reviewing here are. I am not asking for an Anvil flight case but really how much is it for a few more pieces of foam? | 1 | neutral | [
"Better than a cheap gig bag, or paper board case, but NEVER try and put any guitar in these things that you care about or has any value.",
"This case does not hold fender telecasters tightly.",
"I bought a few of these cases for my little kids and they have cheap fender squire guitars, so no worries.",
"If they had to actually take them outside, I would be concerned that the case would fall open, as the case locks are weak and the case is flimsy.",
"The guitars slide around inside the cases, and the padding is not glued well.",
"The solution, partially is to leave the straps on so the guitar has less room to move around inside the case where the body is.",
"Who cares about the finish on a kids guitar.",
"I want to say what do you expect for 40 bucks?",
", but I have Gibson and Fender cases for my expensive guitars I keep at home that actually fit the guitars for 70 bucks, and they are not made in China like the cheap ones I am reviewing here are.",
"I am not asking for an Anvil flight case but really how much is it for a few more pieces of foam?"
] |
I don't know how accurate these really are. I saw something on the internet about how CFL and LED light bulbs emit EMR. I bought this one to test my LED bulbs and other things around the house.
I first went to the LEDs. The meter went off the scale when I got right on top of one bulb. This one had the base exposed. That is where all of the electronics are. Other LED bulbs that we have, the base is not exposed. No real response from the meter. The dimmer switches set it off when I moved the slider up.
No reaction with my computer until I moved the meter on top of the modem. Probably the WiFi signal that is causing it. My lap top set it off when I put the meter close.
I put it near the microwave control pad. It was not running and the meter went off. Probably the electronics as I got no reaction from the rest of the microwave.
This meter only goes to 5 mG. I will probably buy one that the scale goes higher. | 1 | neutral | [
"I don't know how accurate these really are.",
"I saw something on the internet about how CFL and LED light bulbs emit EMR.",
"I bought this one to test my LED bulbs and other things around the house.",
"I first went to the LEDs.",
"The meter went off the scale when I got right on top of one bulb.",
"This one had the base exposed.",
"That is where all of the electronics are.",
"Other LED bulbs that we have, the base is not exposed.",
"No real response from the meter.",
"The dimmer switches set it off when I moved the slider up.",
"No reaction with my computer until I moved the meter on top of the modem.",
"Probably the WiFi signal that is causing it.",
"My lap top set it off when I put the meter close.",
"I put it near the microwave control pad.",
"It was not running and the meter went off.",
"Probably the electronics as I got no reaction from the rest of the microwave.",
"This meter only goes to 5 mG.",
"I will probably buy one that the scale goes higher."
] |
I don't like the tall bottle, which is easy to tip over while applying the polish. It dries quickly. Unfortunately, the polish chips easily, so you may want to use a good base coat (like China Glaze) first, then this polish, then a quality top coat (like Seche Vite). Without the base coat and top coat, the Julep polish lasted less than a day on my nails. After reapplying, this time with the base coat and top coat, it lasted a week before it started chipping.
Another thing I didn't like is the color. On my monitor, the color (Alaina) looked like a lovely lavender. On my nails, it's lavender mixed with gray. Maybe if I were younger... My husband called the color horrid. I don't like the color any more than he does. It might look pretty if you stamp your nails with a dark color over the Alaina. By itself, not so much. | 1 | neutral | [
"I don't like the tall bottle, which is easy to tip over while applying the polish.",
"It dries quickly.",
"Unfortunately, the polish chips easily, so you may want to use a good base coat (like China Glaze) first, then this polish, then a quality top coat (like Seche Vite).",
"Without the base coat and top coat, the Julep polish lasted less than a day on my nails.",
"After reapplying, this time with the base coat and top coat, it lasted a week before it started chipping.",
"Another thing I didn't like is the color.",
"On my monitor, the color (Alaina) looked like a lovely lavender.",
"On my nails, it's lavender mixed with gray.",
"Maybe if I were younger...",
"My husband called the color horrid.",
"I don't like the color any more than he does.",
"It might look pretty if you stamp your nails with a dark color over the Alaina.",
"By itself, not so much."
] |
Much better than the usual of this genre; holds interest all the way and is well paced. However, there are distractions: 1. The short chapters. 2. Early on Alex refers to his Glock "revolver." 3. Chapter 10.....Casanova's description of Kate, Her eyes were dark blue, etc. 4. Chapter 84.....Alex knows Kate's line from "The Pawnbroker"--I could see anxiety in her dark brown eyes.... 5. Chapter 91.....Alex introduces Sampson to Kate and Sampson stared into her blue eyes .6. Chapter 102....Alex in Kate's private hospital room: Alex stared into the vacant brown eyes. | 1 | neutral | [
"Much better than the usual of this genre; holds interest all the way and is well paced.",
"However, there are distractions: 1.",
"The short chapters.",
"2.",
"Early on Alex refers to his Glock \"revolver.",
"\" 3.",
"Chapter 10....",
".",
"Casanova's description of Kate, Her eyes were dark blue, etc.",
"4.",
"Chapter 84....",
".",
"Alex knows Kate's line from \"The Pawnbroker\"--I could see anxiety in her dark brown eyes....",
"5.",
"Chapter 91....",
".",
"Alex introduces Sampson to Kate and Sampson stared into her blue eyes.",
"6.",
"Chapter 102....",
"Alex in Kate's private hospital room: Alex stared into the vacant brown eyes."
] |
I am a huge fan of both Willis and Perry, but I'm not the biggest fan of this movie. While there are quite a few funny moments, they are few and far between. It seemed as though the writers had written some funny stuff, and then came up with some boring lines to act as filler. The instant love between Perry and the blond woman, wasn't believable. Rosanna Arquette's accent was absolutely hideous. The only redeemable quality, was Amanda Peet as the hygienist turned hit man. She was very funny. This movie is o.k. I wouldn't buy it, if you want to see it, rent it, or wait for it to come on t.v. | 1 | neutral | [
"I am a huge fan of both Willis and Perry, but I'm not the biggest fan of this movie.",
"While there are quite a few funny moments, they are few and far between.",
"It seemed as though the writers had written some funny stuff, and then came up with some boring lines to act as filler.",
"The instant love between Perry and the blond woman, wasn't believable.",
"Rosanna Arquette's accent was absolutely hideous.",
"The only redeemable quality, was Amanda Peet as the hygienist turned hit man.",
"She was very funny.",
"This movie is o.",
"k. I wouldn't buy it, if you want to see it, rent it, or wait for it to come on t.",
"v."
] |
I love the pink color of this case, and the durability is excellent. I felt like my phone was VERY secure, and the case fit great. (I did not drop my phone while in this case, but my previous case, the Aegis, from this same company, was dropped a few times and my phone was never harmed AT ALL.) The reason I bought THIS case was for the built-in screen protector. I had seen in the reviews that the "rainbow" effect had occured for a couple of people, but I still wanted to give it a shot. Well, I ended up with the same problem, and it was a real turn off for me...in fact, a deal-breaker. Another thing I wasn't crazy about is that the silicone on the back sticks out from the hard plastic so it's not flat...it's uneven. This causes the case to wiggle around when you lay it flat and try to type. That drove me insane. I ended up buying an entirely different case. I did contact the seller for a refund, but they said that I only qualified for an exchange for the same exact product. I'm not going to bother because I don't want to waste money on shipping for another of the same product that I already know I don't like. Oh well. I took a chance and was dissappointed. | 1 | neutral | [
"I love the pink color of this case, and the durability is excellent.",
"I felt like my phone was VERY secure, and the case fit great.",
"(I did not drop my phone while in this case, but my previous case, the Aegis, from this same company, was dropped a few times and my phone was never harmed AT ALL.",
") The reason I bought THIS case was for the built-in screen protector.",
"I had seen in the reviews that the \"rainbow\" effect had occured for a couple of people, but I still wanted to give it a shot.",
"Well, I ended up with the same problem, and it was a real turn off for me...",
"in fact, a deal-breaker.",
"Another thing I wasn't crazy about is that the silicone on the back sticks out from the hard plastic so it's not flat...",
"it's uneven.",
"This causes the case to wiggle around when you lay it flat and try to type.",
"That drove me insane.",
"I ended up buying an entirely different case.",
"I did contact the seller for a refund, but they said that I only qualified for an exchange for the same exact product.",
"I'm not going to bother because I don't want to waste money on shipping for another of the same product that I already know I don't like.",
"Oh well.",
"I took a chance and was dissappointed."
] |
I've had PaintShop X3, X4, and now X5. The interface changed at 4 and is the same interface in 5, so I'm at least thankful that I don't have to learn a whole new interface again. (I still am not in love with it-- I find it overly cluttered.)
PROS
-I still think PaintShop is the best program around for non-pros who still care about their photos. In other words, it's more advanced than most amateur programs, without quite the same editing capabilities as PhotoShop-- but PhotoShop is much harder to learn.
-It does a good job with basic editing-- simple to crop, adjust brightness, fix blemishes, etc.
-Some great photo effects-- I'm really enjoying playing around with "film and filters," Time Machine, and selective focus, but there are lots more to play with.
-If you don't own any good photo editing programs, you might as well start with X5.
-Great price for such a powerful piece of software.
CONS
-No printed manual
-Red eye removal, while still better than most programs of this type, still needs improvement-- you can generally tell that something's been "red-eye-removed." It's no better in version 5 than in version 4.
-Same with the "One-Step Photo Fix" command, which is useless. Everything comes out almost very high contrast with too-bright colors. Same as version 4.
-Glitchy. This is where it went from 4 stars to 3... When I open a new photo, it automatically brings it into "edit" mode. If I then try to go to "adjust" mode, my photo vanishes, never to be seen again. I swear. Even if I go back to "edit" mode, my photo is gone. I haven't figured out a fix for this yet. I'm using Windows 8 on a great new machine and will ask customer service what's up.
-When you use the FB "share" button, it automatically uploads it as public. If you want your photos to be private, you then have to go to Facebook and change their privacy settings. At that point, you might as well just upload directly from FB rather than from PaintShop.
---
Average users may never max out the capabilities of this program, but it's nice to know that there are so many features to play with if you want to. | 1 | neutral | [
"I've had PaintShop X3, X4, and now X5.",
"The interface changed at 4 and is the same interface in 5, so I'm at least thankful that I don't have to learn a whole new interface again.",
"(I still am not in love with it-- I find it overly cluttered.",
")\n\nPROS\n\n-I still think PaintShop is the best program around for non-pros who still care about their photos.",
"In other words, it's more advanced than most amateur programs, without quite the same editing capabilities as PhotoShop-- but PhotoShop is much harder to learn.",
"-It does a good job with basic editing-- simple to crop, adjust brightness, fix blemishes, etc.",
"-Some great photo effects-- I'm really enjoying playing around with \"film and filters,\" Time Machine, and selective focus, but there are lots more to play with.",
"-If you don't own any good photo editing programs, you might as well start with X5.",
"-Great price for such a powerful piece of software.",
"CONS\n\n-No printed manual\n\n-Red eye removal, while still better than most programs of this type, still needs improvement-- you can generally tell that something's been \"red-eye-removed.",
"\" It's no better in version 5 than in version 4.",
"-Same with the \"One-Step Photo Fix\" command, which is useless.",
"Everything comes out almost very high contrast with too-bright colors.",
"Same as version 4.",
"-Glitchy.",
"This is where it went from 4 stars to 3...",
"When I open a new photo, it automatically brings it into \"edit\" mode.",
"If I then try to go to \"adjust\" mode, my photo vanishes, never to be seen again.",
"I swear.",
"Even if I go back to \"edit\" mode, my photo is gone.",
"I haven't figured out a fix for this yet.",
"I'm using Windows 8 on a great new machine and will ask customer service what's up.",
"-When you use the FB \"share\" button, it automatically uploads it as public.",
"If you want your photos to be private, you then have to go to Facebook and change their privacy settings.",
"At that point, you might as well just upload directly from FB rather than from PaintShop.",
"---\nAverage users may never max out the capabilities of this program, but it's nice to know that there are so many features to play with if you want to."
] |
Merkel defends painful coalition concessions denies authority waning
BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel on Sunday defended âpainfulâ concessions she has made to the Social Democrats (SPD) to win a fourth term as German chancellor and said criticism among her conservatives was not a sign her authority was waning.
Asked whether she was planning to groom a successor to lead her conservatives in the next election Merkel said she wanted a younger generation of her Christian Democrats (CDU) to fill ministerial posts in a renewed coalition with the SPD.
In an interview with the ZDF public broadcaster she commented on the rising displeasure among conservatives over her decision to give the SPD the powerful finance ministry.
âI understand the disappointment â said Merkel who has led Germany for the last 12 years.
âAnd now we need to show that we can start with a new team â she added. âWe have six ministerial posts to fill and from my point of view we need to ensure that not only the over-60s are considered but also younger people.â
Merkel was weakened in a September election that saw her conservative bloc bleed support to a far-right party thrust into parliament for the first time by voters angry at her decision in 2015 to welcome more than a million immigrants.
In November her efforts to form a government with two smaller parties failed leaving the country in political deadlock and prompting some members of her CDU party to demand a succession plan.
Last week she secured a deal with the SPD to renew a right-left alliance that has ruled Germany since 2013 after making painful concessions on Europe and fiscal policy as well as ceding the finance ministry.
Merkel said that if they rejected the deal Germany would probably hold a new election.
She rejected a suggestion that generous concessions to the SPD had weakened her position in the CDU saying she had decided to cut a deal for the sake of Germany.
She sought to allay fears among conservatives that by ceding the finance ministry the next government will stray from the strict fiscal discipline enforced by former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
âIt was a very conscious decision at one point (during negotiations) to say âyesâ this works even though I know and I myself felt it was painful â Merkel said.
Some conservatives are unhappy with her decision to allow the SPD to spend a record budget surplus and to embrace their demands for European reform. | 1 | neutral | [
"Merkel defends painful coalition concessions denies authority waning\nBERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel on Sunday defended âpainfulâ concessions she has made to the Social Democrats (SPD) to win a fourth term as German chancellor and said criticism among her conservatives was not a sign her authority was waning.",
"Asked whether she was planning to groom a successor to lead her conservatives in the next election Merkel said she wanted a younger generation of her Christian Democrats (CDU) to fill ministerial posts in a renewed coalition with the SPD.",
"In an interview with the ZDF public broadcaster she commented on the rising displeasure among conservatives over her decision to give the SPD the powerful finance ministry.",
"âI understand the disappointment â said Merkel who has led Germany for the last 12 years.",
"âAnd now we need to show that we can start with a new team â she added.",
"âWe have six ministerial posts to fill and from my point of view we need to ensure that not only the over-60s are considered but also younger people.",
"â\n Merkel was weakened in a September election that saw her conservative bloc bleed support to a far-right party thrust into parliament for the first time by voters angry at her decision in 2015 to welcome more than a million immigrants.",
"In November her efforts to form a government with two smaller parties failed leaving the country in political deadlock and prompting some members of her CDU party to demand a succession plan.",
"Last week she secured a deal with the SPD to renew a right-left alliance that has ruled Germany since 2013 after making painful concessions on Europe and fiscal policy as well as ceding the finance ministry.",
"Merkel said that if they rejected the deal Germany would probably hold a new election.",
"She rejected a suggestion that generous concessions to the SPD had weakened her position in the CDU saying she had decided to cut a deal for the sake of Germany.",
"She sought to allay fears among conservatives that by ceding the finance ministry the next government will stray from the strict fiscal discipline enforced by former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.",
"âIt was a very conscious decision at one point (during negotiations) to say âyesâ this works even though I know and I myself felt it was painful â Merkel said.",
"Some conservatives are unhappy with her decision to allow the SPD to spend a record budget surplus and to embrace their demands for European reform."
] |
I was really excited to give this gift to my grandson. It had terrific reviews and doesn't require batteries! When Ii opened the box, one of the rockets already had the blue fin fallen off. My grandson is 3, so he didn't notice. And the base is the sole reason I do not give this product 5 stars. What a cheap piece of junk that is!! It NEVER stays together more than two stomps and is a GIANT pain in the behind to put back together (probably because it's so poorly made)! I am going to have someone at church build me a quick wooden base to attach the tube to. The kids love this and it is a lot of fun but I have to stand there and hold the tube which shoots the rockets. If you have the time to build a quick, decent base, then by all means, order this product! | 1 | neutral | [
"I was really excited to give this gift to my grandson.",
"It had terrific reviews and doesn't require batteries!",
"When Ii opened the box, one of the rockets already had the blue fin fallen off.",
"My grandson is 3, so he didn't notice.",
"And the base is the sole reason I do not give this product 5 stars.",
"What a cheap piece of junk that is!!",
"It NEVER stays together more than two stomps and is a GIANT pain in the behind to put back together (probably because it's so poorly made)!",
"I am going to have someone at church build me a quick wooden base to attach the tube to.",
"The kids love this and it is a lot of fun but I have to stand there and hold the tube which shoots the rockets.",
"If you have the time to build a quick, decent base, then by all means, order this product!"
] |
F.E.A.R looked as if it was going to be awesome and it didn't dissapoint in the early stages. The surreal interludes were chilling and very well done. The enemy AI worked well but had a very half-life feel about them (as did the graphics). Typically you would hear the enemy before you saw them so you got chance to quick save before the action began.
The "bullet time" was lifted straight out of Max Payne and was near essential towards the end of the game. It was nicely explained as "lightening reflexes" but I prefer the "Assasin Rush" from Fable or "Force Speed" from the Jedi Knight series, where you move faster rather than them moving slower. Of course Fable also has the "slow time spell" for good measure...
As the game went on there was more of the 10 minutes skulking around corridors followed by 2 minutes of intense action. There was a good mix of puzzles but the best part was where the level designers bothered to give you choices as to how to approach the enemy. This didn't happen enough but when it did it was really satisfying to do. One particular example was a place where if you followed the obvious route you would walk through a door into an ambush, but if you back-tracked you could find a ventilation duct which brought you out above the enemy and it was like a duck shoot - brilliant!
For me the worst part was the end, particularly as it came after only 16 hours of of non-hurried play. It was just like the team ran out of steam (or money). At the very end you are dumped in a room with just you, your pistol and the end of game baddy. Having managed to do the whole game without pressing shift (which makes your aim more accurate) It took me about 10 attempts to realise this was the only way to inflict enough damage before you were got - lame or what!
To summarise, fantastic graphics, good game play and AI, good mixture of intensity and anticipation but looses the plot (literally) towards the end. | 1 | neutral | [
"F.",
"E.A.R looked as if it was going to be awesome and it didn't dissapoint in the early stages.",
"The surreal interludes were chilling and very well done.",
"The enemy AI worked well but had a very half-life feel about them (as did the graphics).",
"Typically you would hear the enemy before you saw them so you got chance to quick save before the action began.",
"The \"bullet time\" was lifted straight out of Max Payne and was near essential towards the end of the game.",
"It was nicely explained as \"lightening reflexes\" but I prefer the \"Assasin Rush\" from Fable or \"Force Speed\" from the Jedi Knight series, where you move faster rather than them moving slower.",
"Of course Fable also has the \"slow time spell\" for good measure...",
"As the game went on there was more of the 10 minutes skulking around corridors followed by 2 minutes of intense action.",
"There was a good mix of puzzles but the best part was where the level designers bothered to give you choices as to how to approach the enemy.",
"This didn't happen enough but when it did it was really satisfying to do.",
"One particular example was a place where if you followed the obvious route you would walk through a door into an ambush, but if you back-tracked you could find a ventilation duct which brought you out above the enemy and it was like a duck shoot - brilliant!",
"For me the worst part was the end, particularly as it came after only 16 hours of of non-hurried play.",
"It was just like the team ran out of steam (or money).",
"At the very end you are dumped in a room with just you, your pistol and the end of game baddy.",
"Having managed to do the whole game without pressing shift (which makes your aim more accurate) It took me about 10 attempts to realise this was the only way to inflict enough damage before you were got - lame or what!",
"To summarise, fantastic graphics, good game play and AI, good mixture of intensity and anticipation but looses the plot (literally) towards the end."
] |
Unfortunately AGAIN I am updating to say that my 3rd one is now broken - in less than 1 year. 11/10/12
Unfortunately I have to update my review to say that my case has broken twice and my husbands (identical) has cracked as well - in less than 6 months. they did send me a new one and it has already cracked. there are weak points at certain places. It still functions, but is a little disappointing.
Previous review:
I read many reviews before purchasing this cover and they were very accurate - so I'm just repeating what others have said.
I have dropped my phone a few times and it has come through un-harmed. I like the rubber cover surrounded by the solid plastic cover to slip in and out of pockets easily.
I chose the blue color - so I even like that my phone is very visible when I'm looking for it.
The cover over the power cord plug in is fine for a power cord, but the phone doesn't work with iPhone/iPod stereo-type units. That's a bummer.
Others commented on the cover for the head phones being a problem - I don't agree. It is easy to use with head phone jack.
I really like everything about this cover- better than any I have ever bought before. | 1 | neutral | [
"Unfortunately AGAIN I am updating to say that my 3rd one is now broken - in less than 1 year.",
"11/10/12\n\nUnfortunately I have to update my review to say that my case has broken twice and my husbands (identical) has cracked as well - in less than 6 months.",
"they did send me a new one and it has already cracked.",
"there are weak points at certain places.",
"It still functions, but is a little disappointing.",
"Previous review:\nI read many reviews before purchasing this cover and they were very accurate - so I'm just repeating what others have said.",
"I have dropped my phone a few times and it has come through un-harmed.",
"I like the rubber cover surrounded by the solid plastic cover to slip in and out of pockets easily.",
"I chose the blue color - so I even like that my phone is very visible when I'm looking for it.",
"The cover over the power cord plug in is fine for a power cord, but the phone doesn't work with iPhone/iPod stereo-type units.",
"That's a bummer.",
"Others commented on the cover for the head phones being a problem - I don't agree.",
"It is easy to use with head phone jack.",
"I really like everything about this cover- better than any I have ever bought before."
] |
I'd been using a juki MO-644D for about a year when it crashed. It would've cost more to fix than to buy a new one. I loved my Juki, its a great serger. So, I ordered another. It worked perfectly for about 6 hours. Then, all of a sudden, It would not pick up the top stitch. I re threaded 15+ times, replaced needles 4-5 times, I adjusted the tension, presser foot, stitch length, everything I would have done to my old Judi, to no avail. I returned it without any problems & received a replacement. I had issues with it too regarding the top stitch. I re threaded, replaced needles, adjusted tensions, etc. it is finally working great. I hope it conts. To work like a dream. If not I'll return it & purchase a serger from a local dealer. It will cost more, but at least I'll have a repair person I can talk too. | 1 | neutral | [
"I'd been using a juki MO-644D for about a year when it crashed.",
"It would've cost more to fix than to buy a new one.",
"I loved my Juki, its a great serger.",
"So, I ordered another.",
"It worked perfectly for about 6 hours.",
"Then, all of a sudden, It would not pick up the top stitch.",
"I re threaded 15+ times, replaced needles 4-5 times, I adjusted the tension, presser foot, stitch length, everything I would have done to my old Judi, to no avail.",
"I returned it without any problems & received a replacement.",
"I had issues with it too regarding the top stitch.",
"I re threaded, replaced needles, adjusted tensions, etc.",
"it is finally working great.",
"I hope it conts.",
"To work like a dream.",
"If not I'll return it & purchase a serger from a local dealer.",
"It will cost more, but at least I'll have a repair person I can talk too."
] |
I'm sure that many people are pleased with the release of the Star Wars Trilogy. I am as well. However, I feel it was a mistake to release an extended version at this particular time. I think Lucas Film should have released the Classic Trilogy first, then extended version later. I was 22 when I first watched Star Wars, and every time I see the Classic version, I feel 22 again. Now I am 48, and watching the extended version, I lose that feeling and think, "Oh, that's new footage." Or, "That scene with Jabba and Han looks too digital." Or, "Why upgrade all this stuff and leave the Death Star plans as basic as a Pong game?" I am no longer "in the zone" of movie watching, I am distracted. So hence, the 3 stars instead of 5. However, I am glad it is out. My kids will not know the difference, and I am resolved to watch it through THEIR eyes from this point on. If Lucas Film decides to release "Star Wars Classic Trilogy - Widescreen", he will again have access to my wallet. | 1 | neutral | [
"I'm sure that many people are pleased with the release of the Star Wars Trilogy.",
"I am as well.",
"However, I feel it was a mistake to release an extended version at this particular time.",
"I think Lucas Film should have released the Classic Trilogy first, then extended version later.",
"I was 22 when I first watched Star Wars, and every time I see the Classic version, I feel 22 again.",
"Now I am 48, and watching the extended version, I lose that feeling and think, \"Oh, that's new footage.",
"\" Or, \"That scene with Jabba and Han looks too digital.",
"\" Or, \"Why upgrade all this stuff and leave the Death Star plans as basic as a Pong game?",
"\" I am no longer \"in the zone\" of movie watching, I am distracted.",
"So hence, the 3 stars instead of 5.",
"However, I am glad it is out.",
"My kids will not know the difference, and I am resolved to watch it through THEIR eyes from this point on.",
"If Lucas Film decides to release \"Star Wars Classic Trilogy - Widescreen\", he will again have access to my wallet."
] |
Bram Stoker's novel created the legend of Dracula, which has seeped into our culture. That, of course, takes some of the suspense out of reading this novel. I doubt that the modern reader would find "Dracula" to be the suspenseful horror book it was to its Victorian readers. However, for someone who wants to know all there is about Dracula, this book is still worth your time.
One cannot make any complaints about Stoker's style, as he uses vivid imagery and illustrious descriptions to give a gloomy, Gothic feel for his novel. Even London is cast in a mysterious, eerie shadow, as most of the action occurs in modern-day (1890s) England and not in Transylvania. It is Stoker's artful play with words that brings to life this legend ever so vividly. Also, his technique of using journals and letters from the various characters allows the reader to assume an omnipotent role as the perspectives of the different characters are presented to the readers, providing a more interesting and slightly challenging style to read.
Stoker's "Dracula" is a complex figure. He is not just a fiend who will attack and suck any man's blood at will. Indeed, Dracula has a far more disturbing and foreboding goal - to corrupt the virtuous women of society and turn them into voluptuous, promiscuous she-devils. For if he can control the girls, then he can control the men who love them. This idea of corrupting the virtuous and pure women of society is a recurring theme. Indeed, for the Victorian audience, this would have been a shockingly wicked idea.
My main complaint about the novel is the melodramatic depiction of women as fragile and weak creatures who must be shielded from all things unpleasant, as this point is driven home relentlessly. It's not that I necessarily object to this portrayal of women in this context, but the melodramatic tripe that is incessantly uttered becomes nauseating. Now when I read a book I always take into consideration the era and the context of the novel. But even for a Victorian novel, I believe this portrayal is over the top. The women in "Dracula" are self-abasing, helpless creatures and rather two-dimensional. For example, Lucy and her mother are kept ignorant of the other's fate, for fear that if they should know the truth, the mere shock of it shall cause instant death. I do, however, understand that in portraying the women as innocent and pure, they represent the antithesis of the evil, voluptuous vampires they are in battle against.
Although this novel may be a bit of a disappointment to those with high expectations, this novel is still worthy of a read to Dracula or classic horror fans. | 1 | neutral | [
"Bram Stoker's novel created the legend of Dracula, which has seeped into our culture.",
"That, of course, takes some of the suspense out of reading this novel.",
"I doubt that the modern reader would find \"Dracula\" to be the suspenseful horror book it was to its Victorian readers.",
"However, for someone who wants to know all there is about Dracula, this book is still worth your time.",
"One cannot make any complaints about Stoker's style, as he uses vivid imagery and illustrious descriptions to give a gloomy, Gothic feel for his novel.",
"Even London is cast in a mysterious, eerie shadow, as most of the action occurs in modern-day (1890s) England and not in Transylvania.",
"It is Stoker's artful play with words that brings to life this legend ever so vividly.",
"Also, his technique of using journals and letters from the various characters allows the reader to assume an omnipotent role as the perspectives of the different characters are presented to the readers, providing a more interesting and slightly challenging style to read.",
"Stoker's \"Dracula\" is a complex figure.",
"He is not just a fiend who will attack and suck any man's blood at will.",
"Indeed, Dracula has a far more disturbing and foreboding goal - to corrupt the virtuous women of society and turn them into voluptuous, promiscuous she-devils.",
"For if he can control the girls, then he can control the men who love them.",
"This idea of corrupting the virtuous and pure women of society is a recurring theme.",
"Indeed, for the Victorian audience, this would have been a shockingly wicked idea.",
"My main complaint about the novel is the melodramatic depiction of women as fragile and weak creatures who must be shielded from all things unpleasant, as this point is driven home relentlessly.",
"It's not that I necessarily object to this portrayal of women in this context, but the melodramatic tripe that is incessantly uttered becomes nauseating.",
"Now when I read a book I always take into consideration the era and the context of the novel.",
"But even for a Victorian novel, I believe this portrayal is over the top.",
"The women in \"Dracula\" are self-abasing, helpless creatures and rather two-dimensional.",
"For example, Lucy and her mother are kept ignorant of the other's fate, for fear that if they should know the truth, the mere shock of it shall cause instant death.",
"I do, however, understand that in portraying the women as innocent and pure, they represent the antithesis of the evil, voluptuous vampires they are in battle against.",
"Although this novel may be a bit of a disappointment to those with high expectations, this novel is still worthy of a read to Dracula or classic horror fans."
] |
I got this to replace another company's charger, as it wasn't charging my bluetooth headset. While this one didn't do that either, it had 52% more capacity.
I didn't use it much, as my phone (and later tablet use) wasn't high enough to require it. That may have led to the issue I have with it now: it turns itself off while charging even a single device. If you need a batter pack for unattended use (and don't mind 'prompting' it), this will be just fine for you. For someone who just needs it to send power until it's target is charged or the pack's depleted, not so much. Also, it charges via miniUSB.
-1: Turns itself off & LEDs are WAY too bright (which is exaggerated by the thin plastic of the outer shell)
-1: Uses miniUSB to charge. We almost have a de facto standard here in the U.S.: microUSB and Lightning. | 1 | neutral | [
"I got this to replace another company's charger, as it wasn't charging my bluetooth headset.",
"While this one didn't do that either, it had 52% more capacity.",
"I didn't use it much, as my phone (and later tablet use) wasn't high enough to require it.",
"That may have led to the issue I have with it now: it turns itself off while charging even a single device.",
"If you need a batter pack for unattended use (and don't mind 'prompting' it), this will be just fine for you.",
"For someone who just needs it to send power until it's target is charged or the pack's depleted, not so much.",
"Also, it charges via miniUSB.",
"-1: Turns itself off & LEDs are WAY too bright (which is exaggerated by the thin plastic of the outer shell)\n-1: Uses miniUSB to charge.",
"We almost have a de facto standard here in the U.",
"S.: microUSB and Lightning."
] |
Co-owner and chef of Primo restaurant in Rockland Maine, Melissa Kelly enthusiastically espouses the Mediterranean lifestyle in her new book, "Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too", an obvious take-off of the mega bestseller, "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Giuliano. Rather than focusing on the epicure wonders of one country, Kelly shoots for the melting-pot American approach of multiculturalism and sails the wine-dark sea in search of a metaphorically food-loving Ithaca.
Unlike Giuliano's vignette-styled success, Kelly takes a foodie's approach: food snobbery and sheer gastronomical delight reign supreme tempered with gluttonless slow eating and small portion sizes. Her best tip? Special treats like a scoop of gelato shouldn't be eaten every day, but when one indulges the three-bite rule should be enforced; delight in only three bites and then stop before excess rules over commonsense.
Kelly's book cruises along tracking other `real food' diet/lifestyle road maps like the "Sonoma" and "Fat Fallacy" regimes. If there is a difference its intaglio is the wealth of recipes that Kelly includes from seasonal staple dishes from menus of her famous restaurant composed of fresh ingredients facilitated by Primo's own vegetable and herb gardens. After explaining her Italian-American rearing on Long Island (you go girl---I am also an Italian American from Old Bethpage), she divides the book into familiar components---forgive my explanatory license here. Topics like `high flavor', `variety', `olive oil', `the market and garden', `tapas portions', `whole grain', `meat control', `eating at the family table', `water and wine', `eating little but eating well', `heart healthy', `living a small rural life', provide a glimmer into the svelte world of the archetypical Mediterranean woman with the addition of health factoids and individual stories that are geared to launch the convenience driven American mindset into a landscape resplendent with a cornucopia of good choices and the breathing room to utterly enjoy and savor the options.
Although not your typical diet book replete with dietary dos and don'ts, Kelly does round out her information with a nuts and bolts chapter that answers the obvious questions of how? how much? and when? with a seven day-menu planner that controls portions, includes the wholesome foods discussed in the previous chapters and adds a little meat for a little excitement.
Along with this, she plugs the idea of balance and contentment which seems to embody the Mediterranean woman and calls to mind that relaxed feeling that one gets even after a short two week trip abroad. Even though she admits that life in America seems very far away from life in the Mediterranean, she asserts that she "almost [has] it right" bolstering her opinion with Charlotte Cushman's words "To try to be better is to be better."
Kelly's chatty style reflects the ease she employs to welcome us into her quasi-Mediterranean world. At times her enthusiasm runs amok and she falls into the same annoying foreign language usage utilized by Mireille Giuliano in FWDGF. Overtly, Mireille shamelessly uses her `French-ness' to charm her super-sized American audience; sadly Kelly's pseudo sophistication runs the foreign phrase gamut using too-cutesy italicized comments from Gibraltar to Lebanon that annoy rather than instruct and detract from otherwise good information.
Bottom line? While Melissa Kelly's all-American pluralistic approach in "Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too" works well on the level of providing good information and interesting recipes, it seems that the current marketplace is saturated with so many books advocating real food and slow eating that they all seem to cover the same ground. Under the guise of learning the newest need-to-know slenderizing secrets of different cultures, we learn only a few simple facts: Eat well, eat slowly and enjoy life. Recommended to those who would appreciate some staple Mediterranean recipes.
Diana F. Von Behren
"reneofc" | 1 | neutral | [
"Co-owner and chef of Primo restaurant in Rockland Maine, Melissa Kelly enthusiastically espouses the Mediterranean lifestyle in her new book, \"Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too\", an obvious take-off of the mega bestseller, \"French Women Don't Get Fat\" by Mireille Giuliano.",
"Rather than focusing on the epicure wonders of one country, Kelly shoots for the melting-pot American approach of multiculturalism and sails the wine-dark sea in search of a metaphorically food-loving Ithaca.",
"Unlike Giuliano's vignette-styled success, Kelly takes a foodie's approach: food snobbery and sheer gastronomical delight reign supreme tempered with gluttonless slow eating and small portion sizes.",
"Her best tip?",
"Special treats like a scoop of gelato shouldn't be eaten every day, but when one indulges the three-bite rule should be enforced; delight in only three bites and then stop before excess rules over commonsense.",
"Kelly's book cruises along tracking other `real food' diet/lifestyle road maps like the \"Sonoma\" and \"Fat Fallacy\" regimes.",
"If there is a difference its intaglio is the wealth of recipes that Kelly includes from seasonal staple dishes from menus of her famous restaurant composed of fresh ingredients facilitated by Primo's own vegetable and herb gardens.",
"After explaining her Italian-American rearing on Long Island (you go girl---I am also an Italian American from Old Bethpage), she divides the book into familiar components---forgive my explanatory license here.",
"Topics like `high flavor', `variety', `olive oil', `the market and garden', `tapas portions', `whole grain', `meat control', `eating at the family table', `water and wine', `eating little but eating well', `heart healthy', `living a small rural life', provide a glimmer into the svelte world of the archetypical Mediterranean woman with the addition of health factoids and individual stories that are geared to launch the convenience driven American mindset into a landscape resplendent with a cornucopia of good choices and the breathing room to utterly enjoy and savor the options.",
"Although not your typical diet book replete with dietary dos and don'ts, Kelly does round out her information with a nuts and bolts chapter that answers the obvious questions of how?",
"how much?",
"and when?",
"with a seven day-menu planner that controls portions, includes the wholesome foods discussed in the previous chapters and adds a little meat for a little excitement.",
"Along with this, she plugs the idea of balance and contentment which seems to embody the Mediterranean woman and calls to mind that relaxed feeling that one gets even after a short two week trip abroad.",
"Even though she admits that life in America seems very far away from life in the Mediterranean, she asserts that she \"almost [has] it right\" bolstering her opinion with Charlotte Cushman's words \"To try to be better is to be better.",
"\"\n\nKelly's chatty style reflects the ease she employs to welcome us into her quasi-Mediterranean world.",
"At times her enthusiasm runs amok and she falls into the same annoying foreign language usage utilized by Mireille Giuliano in FWDGF.",
"Overtly, Mireille shamelessly uses her `French-ness' to charm her super-sized American audience; sadly Kelly's pseudo sophistication runs the foreign phrase gamut using too-cutesy italicized comments from Gibraltar to Lebanon that annoy rather than instruct and detract from otherwise good information.",
"Bottom line?",
"While Melissa Kelly's all-American pluralistic approach in \"Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too\" works well on the level of providing good information and interesting recipes, it seems that the current marketplace is saturated with so many books advocating real food and slow eating that they all seem to cover the same ground.",
"Under the guise of learning the newest need-to-know slenderizing secrets of different cultures, we learn only a few simple facts: Eat well, eat slowly and enjoy life.",
"Recommended to those who would appreciate some staple Mediterranean recipes.",
"Diana F.",
"Von Behren\n\n\"reneofc\""
] |
Without WD-40 it took two hands & 30 sec to move the shield.
I was ready to send it back until I thought ... Let's give it one more chance with WD-40.
I honestly thought it was going to rip or break something using two hands with the helmet in my lap trying to re-position the face shield.
But believe it or not it is NOW THE PERFECT TENSION.
Not too loose and not too tight.
I also purchased the other shield here at amazon from 3M company.
AO Safety 90028 Professional Faceshield
I like it better, BUT, this one has a better adjust for size of the head.
So if different people may be using this face shield go with this one.
If only you will be using the face shield go with the one from 3M (about $1 more) | 1 | neutral | [
"Without WD-40 it took two hands & 30 sec to move the shield.",
"I was ready to send it back until I thought...",
"Let's give it one more chance with WD-40.",
"I honestly thought it was going to rip or break something using two hands with the helmet in my lap trying to re-position the face shield.",
"But believe it or not it is NOW THE PERFECT TENSION.",
"Not too loose and not too tight.",
"I also purchased the other shield here at amazon from 3M company.",
"AO Safety 90028 Professional Faceshield\n\nI like it better, BUT, this one has a better adjust for size of the head.",
"So if different people may be using this face shield go with this one.",
"If only you will be using the face shield go with the one from 3M (about $1 more)"
] |
First of all the graphics and sound are awesome. When I first started playing this game I thought it was the most fun game I've ever played on xbox. This game starts off so good, but it gets boring toward the end. The difficulty settings are a joke. On EASY, its way too easy. You would almost have to lose on purpose sometimes. On MEDIUM, its a lot harder. I didn't even try it on HARD. So playing on easy you'll pretty much coast through the whole game. The game is still a blast to play but its so easy that there's almost no point. Another thing that bugged me was how my Celica was faster than my Supra, which makes no sense. And there's no S2000. How can a street racing game leave out the Honda S2000? There were other good cars but there's no point in trying them all because the only difference will be how they look. A lot of the cars sound the same and are equally fast. Bottom line is this game is great for a rental, but you shouldn't buy it unless you can go online. Playing against the computer is a joke. | 1 | neutral | [
"First of all the graphics and sound are awesome.",
"When I first started playing this game I thought it was the most fun game I've ever played on xbox.",
"This game starts off so good, but it gets boring toward the end.",
"The difficulty settings are a joke.",
"On EASY, its way too easy.",
"You would almost have to lose on purpose sometimes.",
"On MEDIUM, its a lot harder.",
"I didn't even try it on HARD.",
"So playing on easy you'll pretty much coast through the whole game.",
"The game is still a blast to play but its so easy that there's almost no point.",
"Another thing that bugged me was how my Celica was faster than my Supra, which makes no sense.",
"And there's no S2000.",
"How can a street racing game leave out the Honda S2000?",
"There were other good cars but there's no point in trying them all because the only difference will be how they look.",
"A lot of the cars sound the same and are equally fast.",
"Bottom line is this game is great for a rental, but you shouldn't buy it unless you can go online.",
"Playing against the computer is a joke."
] |
So far I'm okay with this fabric shaver. While I am glad to make my clothes look less trashy, it's loud and scares the cat. That's kind of an issue because he freaked when I set it down near him when I was adjusting a top to get at the other side.. Several bandaids and gauze and peroxide and an application of neosporin later...i tried using the shaver again. I would say that it's effective but i had hoped it was going to be slightly more magical, i.e. really quick. You have to be somewhat slow and methodical--but it will definitely collect a lot of pills in the clear bin. The really stubborn pills on a fleece pullover took more effort than a pilled-up hat did. Ultimately I was happy to see my clothes look refreshed. It's much bigger than the battery operated ones I've seen at WalMart. The advantage of the larger size is the larger collection bin. I had a battery operated shaver that was small and easy to use, but I had to stop every minute and empty it. I downgraded the stars due to the noise which seemed to affect the cat more than my vacuum cleaner. The other reason is the feeling of the shaver being not as zippy to shave the fabric as I expected for it's large size. I have only used it with the power cord, so I can't tell you how long it worked on the battery power. | 1 | neutral | [
"So far I'm okay with this fabric shaver.",
"While I am glad to make my clothes look less trashy, it's loud and scares the cat.",
"That's kind of an issue because he freaked when I set it down near him when I was adjusting a top to get at the other side..",
"Several bandaids and gauze and peroxide and an application of neosporin later...",
"i tried using the shaver again.",
"I would say that it's effective but i had hoped it was going to be slightly more magical, i.",
"e. really quick.",
"You have to be somewhat slow and methodical--but it will definitely collect a lot of pills in the clear bin.",
"The really stubborn pills on a fleece pullover took more effort than a pilled-up hat did.",
"Ultimately I was happy to see my clothes look refreshed.",
"It's much bigger than the battery operated ones I've seen at WalMart.",
"The advantage of the larger size is the larger collection bin.",
"I had a battery operated shaver that was small and easy to use, but I had to stop every minute and empty it.",
"I downgraded the stars due to the noise which seemed to affect the cat more than my vacuum cleaner.",
"The other reason is the feeling of the shaver being not as zippy to shave the fabric as I expected for it's large size.",
"I have only used it with the power cord, so I can't tell you how long it worked on the battery power."
] |
I got this stand for a DW788 scroll saw.
First, let me say I know the instructions call for bolting this to the floor. I think that's a bit unreasonable for most people. On the other hand, I now know why DeWalt recommends that. Because it's not very stable.
A better design would be to have 4 legs instead of the "tri-pod" arrangement DeWalt came up with. The materials are good, it went together easily, it looks nice, it has a nice finish to it. But it's just not quite up to snuff in terms of stability.
It works...it just doesn't work very well. And it's one of those things that, at least for me, constantly reminds me that it's just a mediocre product and I'm not really happy with it.
Having said that, I did use some adjustable feet that were included in a very high-end, pretty blue router table package deal I recently purchased. They went on nicely and the rubber bottoms keep the stand from moving around on the shop floor. Being adjustable (the screw up/down type) they make it easy to level everything out on uneven surfaces. I'd recommend stopping by your local home improvement store for something similar.
All in all, if I were still looking, I'd find something else besides this stand. I can't recommend it. | 1 | neutral | [
"I got this stand for a DW788 scroll saw.",
"First, let me say I know the instructions call for bolting this to the floor.",
"I think that's a bit unreasonable for most people.",
"On the other hand, I now know why DeWalt recommends that.",
"Because it's not very stable.",
"A better design would be to have 4 legs instead of the \"tri-pod\" arrangement DeWalt came up with.",
"The materials are good, it went together easily, it looks nice, it has a nice finish to it.",
"But it's just not quite up to snuff in terms of stability.",
"It works...",
"it just doesn't work very well.",
"And it's one of those things that, at least for me, constantly reminds me that it's just a mediocre product and I'm not really happy with it.",
"Having said that, I did use some adjustable feet that were included in a very high-end, pretty blue router table package deal I recently purchased.",
"They went on nicely and the rubber bottoms keep the stand from moving around on the shop floor.",
"Being adjustable (the screw up/down type) they make it easy to level everything out on uneven surfaces.",
"I'd recommend stopping by your local home improvement store for something similar.",
"All in all, if I were still looking, I'd find something else besides this stand.",
"I can't recommend it."
] |
Monsoon was a big step for a band like Caroline's Spine to make a name for themselves. What's evident in their debut is the fact that they really tried to put too much into one album, and didn't really work all as great as they may have wanted to.
I think Caroline's Spine is a great band, don't get me wrong. However, this album just sort of proved why they wearn't that big comercially. Song's like "trio-pain", "psycho", and "necro" (all in succession) not only sound similar, they just really have no substance. "Sweet and Sour" is ok, but not that great, "Sullivan" and "Monsoon" just painfully grudge on a little longer than they should, which prevented them from being better songs.
There are some major bright spots w/ this album though. "You and Me", "King for a Day", and "Say It to You" are very fine pieces of music. The song "So Good Afternoon" takes a while to get used to, but it also, has a lot of potential. "Wallflower" isn't too bad either.
The only reason this album gets 3 stars is b/c if you are a first time listener of the band, you'll simply say that all the songs sound the same. And true, Jimmy Newquist's voice just doesn't seem to carry much.
I would highly reccommend that you get Attention Please before Monsoon. It has 2 notably good singles, and a bunch more of catchy tunes than Monsoon. Overall, Monsoon, is still a good album, only if you accept a broad range in rock music, b/c Caroline's Spine definately sounds a lot different, and it's hard to compare them to anyone. | 1 | neutral | [
"Monsoon was a big step for a band like Caroline's Spine to make a name for themselves.",
"What's evident in their debut is the fact that they really tried to put too much into one album, and didn't really work all as great as they may have wanted to.",
"I think Caroline's Spine is a great band, don't get me wrong.",
"However, this album just sort of proved why they wearn't that big comercially.",
"Song's like \"trio-pain\", \"psycho\", and \"necro\" (all in succession) not only sound similar, they just really have no substance.",
"\"Sweet and Sour\" is ok, but not that great, \"Sullivan\" and \"Monsoon\" just painfully grudge on a little longer than they should, which prevented them from being better songs.",
"There are some major bright spots w/ this album though.",
"\"You and Me\", \"King for a Day\", and \"Say It to You\" are very fine pieces of music.",
"The song \"So Good Afternoon\" takes a while to get used to, but it also, has a lot of potential.",
"\"Wallflower\" isn't too bad either.",
"The only reason this album gets 3 stars is b/c if you are a first time listener of the band, you'll simply say that all the songs sound the same.",
"And true, Jimmy Newquist's voice just doesn't seem to carry much.",
"I would highly reccommend that you get Attention Please before Monsoon.",
"It has 2 notably good singles, and a bunch more of catchy tunes than Monsoon.",
"Overall, Monsoon, is still a good album, only if you accept a broad range in rock music, b/c Caroline's Spine definately sounds a lot different, and it's hard to compare them to anyone."
] |
This review was written by my son, James Shea.
The first incarnation of the AtL series on the PS2, Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a tactical RPG, though more the latter than the former.
The game follows two viewpoints: that of Kharg, a human prince, and Darc, a Deimos (monstrous humanoid) slave. The two must unite to fight off a powerful army that seeks to capture the five elemental stones and gain ultimate power. The plot is, as it sounds, fairly cookie-cutter, and there isn't a huge amount of character development or really deep storyline. It's certainly not enough to support the gameplay. There are several attempts at "messages" - the splintering between the Deimos and the Humans as a metaphor for racism being the main one - but as a whole these are shallow.
The gameplay is "tactical", in a way, though the numbers of your party aren't as high as would be expected in such a system. Similar to Phantom Brave, each character has a radius that they can move in. Walking within range of an enemy allows you to attack them. Different weapons have different ranges, and certain skills also have longer ranges. Positioning for combination attacks becomes important.
The graphics are decent, and reasonable for a PS2 game of the time, but for the most part the character designs are uninspired. Every part of the character costumes and design seems to be stylistically taken from some other RPG, and none of them stand out in any way. The music is similarly generic; no particular piece stands out. This game is so remarkably average that it is unbelievable.
As a whole this game isn't excellent in many ways. It is simply another one of the seeming thousands of PS2 fantasy RPGs, and it doesn't add anything major or important to the formula that would be worth discussing.
Rating: 6/10. | 1 | neutral | [
"This review was written by my son, James Shea.",
"The first incarnation of the AtL series on the PS2, Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a tactical RPG, though more the latter than the former.",
"The game follows two viewpoints: that of Kharg, a human prince, and Darc, a Deimos (monstrous humanoid) slave.",
"The two must unite to fight off a powerful army that seeks to capture the five elemental stones and gain ultimate power.",
"The plot is, as it sounds, fairly cookie-cutter, and there isn't a huge amount of character development or really deep storyline.",
"It's certainly not enough to support the gameplay.",
"There are several attempts at \"messages\" - the splintering between the Deimos and the Humans as a metaphor for racism being the main one - but as a whole these are shallow.",
"The gameplay is \"tactical\", in a way, though the numbers of your party aren't as high as would be expected in such a system.",
"Similar to Phantom Brave, each character has a radius that they can move in.",
"Walking within range of an enemy allows you to attack them.",
"Different weapons have different ranges, and certain skills also have longer ranges.",
"Positioning for combination attacks becomes important.",
"The graphics are decent, and reasonable for a PS2 game of the time, but for the most part the character designs are uninspired.",
"Every part of the character costumes and design seems to be stylistically taken from some other RPG, and none of them stand out in any way.",
"The music is similarly generic; no particular piece stands out.",
"This game is so remarkably average that it is unbelievable.",
"As a whole this game isn't excellent in many ways.",
"It is simply another one of the seeming thousands of PS2 fantasy RPGs, and it doesn't add anything major or important to the formula that would be worth discussing.",
"Rating: 6/10."
] |
This tone tester is supposed to be superior to other conventional tone testers because it has digital tracing capabilities. Nevertheless, I find it no easier to locate cables in this mode. In digital, the volume doesn't fluctuate with the signal strength, so you have to look at the LEDs to figure out what's going on. I'm sure some people will consider this a feature, not myself.
Unimpressed with the digital side of things, I figured I'd just stick to analog mode. Sadly, it's not the best analog tester: the signal thrower is on the weak side and you can't make up for it by turning up the volume. My trusty Ideal ABS tone tester has about twice the strength (though it does have a low setting if you need it, which is about equal to this unit). Also, the Ideal ABS is more crisp and trebly, making it much easier to hear if you're surrounded by background noise. The MT-8200-60A has a rather midrange-focused speaker and is quickly drowned out by surrounding noise. To make matters worse, because of the ergonomic design, you end up holding it in way that covers the speaker with your palm (not so with the Ideal ABS). So you must grasp it with your fingers, which makes it more fatiguing. Also, both the probe and thrower is excessively large and it doesn't even have a case.
On the plus side, the signal thrower does have a "click-sound" to the test tone, so that helps to makes up for its lack of power. It also has the ability to test for network activity and it will test for open or shorted pairs on cat3 and cat5.
If it were $100-$125 I'd give it 4 stars. If they would incorporate a more crisp/trebly sounding speaker and a more powerful signal thrower, I'd give it 4 stars at the $210 price point. | 1 | neutral | [
"This tone tester is supposed to be superior to other conventional tone testers because it has digital tracing capabilities.",
"Nevertheless, I find it no easier to locate cables in this mode.",
"In digital, the volume doesn't fluctuate with the signal strength, so you have to look at the LEDs to figure out what's going on.",
"I'm sure some people will consider this a feature, not myself.",
"Unimpressed with the digital side of things, I figured I'd just stick to analog mode.",
"Sadly, it's not the best analog tester: the signal thrower is on the weak side and you can't make up for it by turning up the volume.",
"My trusty Ideal ABS tone tester has about twice the strength (though it does have a low setting if you need it, which is about equal to this unit).",
"Also, the Ideal ABS is more crisp and trebly, making it much easier to hear if you're surrounded by background noise.",
"The MT-8200-60A has a rather midrange-focused speaker and is quickly drowned out by surrounding noise.",
"To make matters worse, because of the ergonomic design, you end up holding it in way that covers the speaker with your palm (not so with the Ideal ABS).",
"So you must grasp it with your fingers, which makes it more fatiguing.",
"Also, both the probe and thrower is excessively large and it doesn't even have a case.",
"On the plus side, the signal thrower does have a \"click-sound\" to the test tone, so that helps to makes up for its lack of power.",
"It also has the ability to test for network activity and it will test for open or shorted pairs on cat3 and cat5.",
"If it were $100-$125 I'd give it 4 stars.",
"If they would incorporate a more crisp/trebly sounding speaker and a more powerful signal thrower, I'd give it 4 stars at the $210 price point."
] |
This game does have its good points. The graphics are great and the objectives of the game are realistic.
The game controls are a little annoying, as you have to go into a special "view" mode to make your character look around and look in a specific area in order to find something...and if you miss that specific area, she won't "see" it and therefore be able to do the thing you want her to do.
The enemy A.I. isn't very intelligent, they'll walk right by you even if they shine flashlights on you they won't necessarily see you. Some of the levels border from hard to impossible though. I like an approach that isn't all out guns blazing, but I do like the option of being able to take out a guard or security camera if I have to. Some of the levels in this game, you can't take out even a security camera, which is just stupid...and it's not the latter missions where you would expect things to be harder. Some of the ends of missions also have you fighting a "boss" which brings back NES and Super NES memories, but the bosses aren't necessarily as challenging. Having to fight a boss at the end of a level sometimes just seems pointless and derivitive instead of using gameplay based on objectives and enemies throughout the level.
Overall, this game had the potential to be as good as Splinter Cell, but the over emphasis on stealth (sometimes in the face of common sense) dooms it to just average.
However, if you're a player that's extremely good at Splinter Cell using stealth and don't need to take out many guards or enemies in each level, you'll probably like and be good at this game too. | 1 | neutral | [
"This game does have its good points.",
"The graphics are great and the objectives of the game are realistic.",
"The game controls are a little annoying, as you have to go into a special \"view\" mode to make your character look around and look in a specific area in order to find something...",
"and if you miss that specific area, she won't \"see\" it and therefore be able to do the thing you want her to do.",
"The enemy A.",
"I. isn't very intelligent, they'll walk right by you even if they shine flashlights on you they won't necessarily see you.",
"Some of the levels border from hard to impossible though.",
"I like an approach that isn't all out guns blazing, but I do like the option of being able to take out a guard or security camera if I have to.",
"Some of the levels in this game, you can't take out even a security camera, which is just stupid...",
"and it's not the latter missions where you would expect things to be harder.",
"Some of the ends of missions also have you fighting a \"boss\" which brings back NES and Super NES memories, but the bosses aren't necessarily as challenging.",
"Having to fight a boss at the end of a level sometimes just seems pointless and derivitive instead of using gameplay based on objectives and enemies throughout the level.",
"Overall, this game had the potential to be as good as Splinter Cell, but the over emphasis on stealth (sometimes in the face of common sense) dooms it to just average.",
"However, if you're a player that's extremely good at Splinter Cell using stealth and don't need to take out many guards or enemies in each level, you'll probably like and be good at this game too."
] |
This is the third album in a row from Elton John to feature fake southern accents and stories from the country.
Notably for this album, Elton has gotten rid of the big orchestral sound of the last album, and actually there are very few big arrangements. The sound is stripped down a lot, too. Wonder what Paul Buckmaster was doing? Elton is playing his piano like he was in an old Western saloon and the guitars are rootsy and often twangy.
The boppin', joyous, exuberant opener 'Honky Cat' is definitely fun and features some fantastic organ work. Another highlight includes the cynical 'I think I'm gonna kill myself', which is quite homourous, the vocal gets the point across perfectly. Then there's the rocking 'Suzie', which has a good groove, passionate vocals and a memorable chorus 'share a little lovin in the moooon shiii-iiine'.
'Rocket Man' is a classic. The backing vocals contribute so much to the main hook of the song 'rocket maaaaaann', and that haunting guitar, courtesy of Davey Johnstone. Very few songs try to straddle the middle ground between folk and psychedelia, and fewer still pull it off as memorably as this song. The album closer, 'Hercules', is a fun rock 'n' roll song, though could have done with a more enthusiastic vocal, like a few of the songs here.
There are some weak songs. The second half of the album starts with a couple of awful, awful folk songs, the flat, colourless 'Salvation', and 'Slave', which has one of the worst and most unconvincing fake- Southern accents ever. The music is a bit of a rip-off for the Drifters' 'On the boardwalk'.
Then there's 'Amy', which is more enjoyable, but for a song where he is supposed to be *so* in love with his girl, he sounds a bit half-hearted. Some of the lines are delivered with real indifference. 'Mellow' is filler, a bit meamdering, but it has charm.
But nothing's perfect, and Elton made a good move stripping away all the souped up arrangements of the last album, and getting back to a more basic sound, and it would be his last acoustic folk-rock album for a while. | 1 | neutral | [
"This is the third album in a row from Elton John to feature fake southern accents and stories from the country.",
"Notably for this album, Elton has gotten rid of the big orchestral sound of the last album, and actually there are very few big arrangements.",
"The sound is stripped down a lot, too.",
"Wonder what Paul Buckmaster was doing?",
"Elton is playing his piano like he was in an old Western saloon and the guitars are rootsy and often twangy.",
"The boppin', joyous, exuberant opener 'Honky Cat' is definitely fun and features some fantastic organ work.",
"Another highlight includes the cynical 'I think I'm gonna kill myself', which is quite homourous, the vocal gets the point across perfectly.",
"Then there's the rocking 'Suzie', which has a good groove, passionate vocals and a memorable chorus 'share a little lovin in the moooon shiii-iiine'.",
"'Rocket Man' is a classic.",
"The backing vocals contribute so much to the main hook of the song 'rocket maaaaaann', and that haunting guitar, courtesy of Davey Johnstone.",
"Very few songs try to straddle the middle ground between folk and psychedelia, and fewer still pull it off as memorably as this song.",
"The album closer, 'Hercules', is a fun rock 'n' roll song, though could have done with a more enthusiastic vocal, like a few of the songs here.",
"There are some weak songs.",
"The second half of the album starts with a couple of awful, awful folk songs, the flat, colourless 'Salvation', and 'Slave', which has one of the worst and most unconvincing fake- Southern accents ever.",
"The music is a bit of a rip-off for the Drifters' 'On the boardwalk'.",
"Then there's 'Amy', which is more enjoyable, but for a song where he is supposed to be *so* in love with his girl, he sounds a bit half-hearted.",
"Some of the lines are delivered with real indifference.",
"'Mellow' is filler, a bit meamdering, but it has charm.",
"But nothing's perfect, and Elton made a good move stripping away all the souped up arrangements of the last album, and getting back to a more basic sound, and it would be his last acoustic folk-rock album for a while."
] |
I was watching TV in my home office when Al Jolson walked into the room. At least my first impression was that it was Al but it turned out to be my wife with an application of this Clay Mask which gave her the Al Jolson look. It looked like a black coating to me but she said it was dark green. I took a whiff of the mask and it had a mild scent that was neither pleasant nor unpleasant - just fairly mild. In a while I heard the shower running and concluded that she was washing off the mask along with her regular shower activities. She came back into my office but this time her face was all red. She said it felt very sensitive. It appeared to me that her skin was just a tad more smooth but not anything noteworthy. However, she was visibly uncomfortable with the skin sensitivity caused by this product.
This is a product that obviously can have a variety of effects depending on the facial skin sensitivity of the user. In my wife's case the reaction was not a positive one due to both the sensitivity issue and the lack of significant effect on increasing skin smoothness. | 1 | neutral | [
"I was watching TV in my home office when Al Jolson walked into the room.",
"At least my first impression was that it was Al but it turned out to be my wife with an application of this Clay Mask which gave her the Al Jolson look.",
"It looked like a black coating to me but she said it was dark green.",
"I took a whiff of the mask and it had a mild scent that was neither pleasant nor unpleasant - just fairly mild.",
"In a while I heard the shower running and concluded that she was washing off the mask along with her regular shower activities.",
"She came back into my office but this time her face was all red.",
"She said it felt very sensitive.",
"It appeared to me that her skin was just a tad more smooth but not anything noteworthy.",
"However, she was visibly uncomfortable with the skin sensitivity caused by this product.",
"This is a product that obviously can have a variety of effects depending on the facial skin sensitivity of the user.",
"In my wife's case the reaction was not a positive one due to both the sensitivity issue and the lack of significant effect on increasing skin smoothness."
] |
Daphne is a 19-year-old girl who has quite the affinity with the spirits around her. In the center of the town she lives in is a Silver Ash. A very special silver ash. In this tree lives a phoenix and a nymph who revitalize and renew the town once a century. Without this rebirth, the city would fall into ruin and everyone would perish.
As the time of this rebirth approaches, it is discovered that something is seriously wrong. Never in all of the centuries the tree has stood has a single leaf fallen from the silver ash. Now the ground is littered with sticks and leaves. The tree is dying. The phoenix that normally dies and brings new life with her rebirth refuses to depend on the dying to tree to help her back to life. What happens from here leaves Daphne in a position she never dreamed of being in.
There isn't much more I can tell you about the story line at this time without giving too much away. It was a very short story, and I don't want to spoil the story for anyone. I am internally debating whether or not this is a book meant for younger children or older children. The brevity of the book, and the simplistic storytelling lead me at first to believe this was meant for elementary school children. But the events that unfold and the ending of the story made me rethink my position.
This story is based off many legends and old folklore. There is the opportunity to get younger kids interested in folklore after they read this book if the right literature is presented to them right away as a companion to this book. At just barely over 50 pages long, it is short enough to keep a young reader's interest while being long enough to make them think they really got a "long" book.
I believe this book teaches some great lessons. At one point, Daphne must make a decision - and she makes the right one - even when it is the hardest thing she will ever have to do. But she does it because it is the RIGHT thing to do. She puts the lives of all others before her own life. It shows true love and heroism. A very important value to instill in children while they are still little.
I would recommend this to anyone with younger children who get excited about fantasy, folklore, and a smidge bit of action. (It's nothing violent, so no worries on that front) | 1 | neutral | [
"Daphne is a 19-year-old girl who has quite the affinity with the spirits around her.",
"In the center of the town she lives in is a Silver Ash.",
"A very special silver ash.",
"In this tree lives a phoenix and a nymph who revitalize and renew the town once a century.",
"Without this rebirth, the city would fall into ruin and everyone would perish.",
"As the time of this rebirth approaches, it is discovered that something is seriously wrong.",
"Never in all of the centuries the tree has stood has a single leaf fallen from the silver ash.",
"Now the ground is littered with sticks and leaves.",
"The tree is dying.",
"The phoenix that normally dies and brings new life with her rebirth refuses to depend on the dying to tree to help her back to life.",
"What happens from here leaves Daphne in a position she never dreamed of being in.",
"There isn't much more I can tell you about the story line at this time without giving too much away.",
"It was a very short story, and I don't want to spoil the story for anyone.",
"I am internally debating whether or not this is a book meant for younger children or older children.",
"The brevity of the book, and the simplistic storytelling lead me at first to believe this was meant for elementary school children.",
"But the events that unfold and the ending of the story made me rethink my position.",
"This story is based off many legends and old folklore.",
"There is the opportunity to get younger kids interested in folklore after they read this book if the right literature is presented to them right away as a companion to this book.",
"At just barely over 50 pages long, it is short enough to keep a young reader's interest while being long enough to make them think they really got a \"long\" book.",
"I believe this book teaches some great lessons.",
"At one point, Daphne must make a decision - and she makes the right one - even when it is the hardest thing she will ever have to do.",
"But she does it because it is the RIGHT thing to do.",
"She puts the lives of all others before her own life.",
"It shows true love and heroism.",
"A very important value to instill in children while they are still little.",
"I would recommend this to anyone with younger children who get excited about fantasy, folklore, and a smidge bit of action.",
"(It's nothing violent, so no worries on that front)"
] |
Game on! Pritzker parries the 'insider' charge Kennedy lashes back
Businessman Chris Kennedy jumped in with his take: âThatâs why we have a divided government â he said. âFor gosh sakes if weâre not going to call out other parts of government â if you donât see your role as governor to call out a mayor whoâs not representing the people of a certain city if youâre not willing to call out an assessor whoâs violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act â if you donât think thatâs the proper role of government you should go read the Constitution ...
Well yes Iâm all for calling politicians to account â pointing out their failings and demanding they do better. And while I understand that constructive criticism and attempts at engagement and compromise arenât politically fashionable I donât think Kennedy set the table for long-term success should he be elected with his over-the-top accusation earlier this month that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is leading a âstrategic gentrification planâ to drive African-Americans and other minorities out of the city.
Iâd say the same thing about Kennedy âs repeated claims one example seen above that successful property-tax appeals result in less money for our schools.
Thatâs not how property taxes work. Schools set an overall levy and that amount is divvied up among all the property taxpayers in the district. When your tax bill goes down after an appeal everyone elseâs goes up fractionally to compensate. Candidate Daniel Biss a state senator from Evanston explained this clearly to Kennedy during a similar session Wednesday before the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board. | 1 | neutral | [
"Game on!",
"Pritzker parries the 'insider' charge Kennedy lashes back\nBusinessman Chris Kennedy jumped in with his take: âThatâs why we have a divided government â he said.",
"âFor gosh sakes if weâre not going to call out other parts of government â if you donât see your role as governor to call out a mayor whoâs not representing the people of a certain city if youâre not willing to call out an assessor whoâs violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act â if you donât think thatâs the proper role of government you should go read the Constitution...",
"Well yes Iâm all for calling politicians to account â pointing out their failings and demanding they do better.",
"And while I understand that constructive criticism and attempts at engagement and compromise arenât politically fashionable I donât think Kennedy set the table for long-term success should he be elected with his over-the-top accusation earlier this month that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is leading a âstrategic gentrification planâ to drive African-Americans and other minorities out of the city.",
"Iâd say the same thing about Kennedy âs repeated claims one example seen above that successful property-tax appeals result in less money for our schools.",
"Thatâs not how property taxes work.",
"Schools set an overall levy and that amount is divvied up among all the property taxpayers in the district.",
"When your tax bill goes down after an appeal everyone elseâs goes up fractionally to compensate.",
"Candidate Daniel Biss a state senator from Evanston explained this clearly to Kennedy during a similar session Wednesday before the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board."
] |
...and the quality of Queensryche's music has done just that.
Promised Land is a strange album for Queensryche to release, mostly because they had just enjoyed mainstream success with the likes of Empire. In contrast, Promised Land is much darker, more brooding and certainly less mainstream (arguably the least mainstream album the band have ever released). And that's a good thing right? Well, not necessarily.
The fact that this is boring. Just because it is dark does not make it really intelligent. I respect the fact that they did what they wanted rather than lap up the commercial success like Metallica did at the same time. But that doesn't mean that everything they do is automatically brilliant because of it.
The fact is that this has hardly any decent songs to mention. It lacks the energy of Warning and Queensryche EP, the accessiblity of Empire and the brilliance of Operation Mindcrime. It does have the wierdness of Rage For Order but in a bad way since it is resorts to uninspired sluggishness rather than the sinister almost industrial feel of Rage For Order.
For an album that took 2 years to write and record, Queensryche don't have a lot to show for it. It seems like they were going out of their way to be different rather than just letting the music flow. | 1 | neutral | [
"...",
"and the quality of Queensryche's music has done just that.",
"Promised Land is a strange album for Queensryche to release, mostly because they had just enjoyed mainstream success with the likes of Empire.",
"In contrast, Promised Land is much darker, more brooding and certainly less mainstream (arguably the least mainstream album the band have ever released).",
"And that's a good thing right?",
"Well, not necessarily.",
"The fact that this is boring.",
"Just because it is dark does not make it really intelligent.",
"I respect the fact that they did what they wanted rather than lap up the commercial success like Metallica did at the same time.",
"But that doesn't mean that everything they do is automatically brilliant because of it.",
"The fact is that this has hardly any decent songs to mention.",
"It lacks the energy of Warning and Queensryche EP, the accessiblity of Empire and the brilliance of Operation Mindcrime.",
"It does have the wierdness of Rage For Order but in a bad way since it is resorts to uninspired sluggishness rather than the sinister almost industrial feel of Rage For Order.",
"For an album that took 2 years to write and record, Queensryche don't have a lot to show for it.",
"It seems like they were going out of their way to be different rather than just letting the music flow."
] |
Decent phone and love most of the features. I switched from Iphone 3Gs about a week ago and below are my observations.
The Good: The phone is fast, responsive and plenty of apps out there in the android marketplace (and soon the amazon market for AT&T, i guess).
The Bad: The phone interface sucks and doesn't come close to what I was used to with the Iphone. I hope the newer revisions of android comes with a better interface.
For listening to music, I was so used to the itunes playlist feature and the phone doesn't provide something comparable out of the box, but the Songbird app seems to fill in the void (I'm sure there are other apps out there that provides the same feature/functionality).
The battery life is a joke. I'm not watching videos or doing anything extensive that would drain the battery; my typical day involves using the phone for about 5-10 minutes and using the internet for about 15-30 minutes and still the battery drains before the end of the day. I tried using an app to kill the running apps, turning off bluetooth and wifi, but the issue is still around. This was never a problem with the Iphone.
The signal strength seems to be the next problem. When I'm at home, I'm not receiving the calls sometimes. There is no indication on the phone to say there is no signal, but my friends get the voicemail directly without any rings.
The call quality is good when i make the calls and I'm not sure why the phone does not ring sometimes when my friends call me.
The last two issues are a deal breaker for me and most likely i'm returning the phone this weekend. | 1 | neutral | [
"Decent phone and love most of the features.",
"I switched from Iphone 3Gs about a week ago and below are my observations.",
"The Good: The phone is fast, responsive and plenty of apps out there in the android marketplace (and soon the amazon market for AT&T, i guess).",
"The Bad: The phone interface sucks and doesn't come close to what I was used to with the Iphone.",
"I hope the newer revisions of android comes with a better interface.",
"For listening to music, I was so used to the itunes playlist feature and the phone doesn't provide something comparable out of the box, but the Songbird app seems to fill in the void (I'm sure there are other apps out there that provides the same feature/functionality).",
"The battery life is a joke.",
"I'm not watching videos or doing anything extensive that would drain the battery; my typical day involves using the phone for about 5-10 minutes and using the internet for about 15-30 minutes and still the battery drains before the end of the day.",
"I tried using an app to kill the running apps, turning off bluetooth and wifi, but the issue is still around.",
"This was never a problem with the Iphone.",
"The signal strength seems to be the next problem.",
"When I'm at home, I'm not receiving the calls sometimes.",
"There is no indication on the phone to say there is no signal, but my friends get the voicemail directly without any rings.",
"The call quality is good when i make the calls and I'm not sure why the phone does not ring sometimes when my friends call me.",
"The last two issues are a deal breaker for me and most likely i'm returning the phone this weekend."
] |
Again, instead of allowing his characters to carry on conversations or the visual components of his art to speak, Scorcese, master of the voice over, violates a cardinal rule of cinema and allows the audience to forget the dream of the film by constant interruptions by a narrator. Now a narrator provides a useful function in written fiction, but only disturbs the delicate fabric of film. Why is it necessary for the narrator to point out what we are seeing? "Newland felt this and Newland felt that". This is superfluous at best as Mr. Lewis' visage and gestures, his mannerisms all convey the necessary information. Why can't Scorcese allow his movies to speak for themselves? Can you imagine "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Citizen Kane" with voiceovers? In the latter masterpiece Welles' has characters in the film speak their voice overs which is what one wishes this director would do. Imagine the first scene of "The Godfather" with voice overs. "At that time it was customary for Mafia Dons to throw the most lavish weddings imaginable for their daughters in hopes that. . ." Absurd. | 1 | neutral | [
"Again, instead of allowing his characters to carry on conversations or the visual components of his art to speak, Scorcese, master of the voice over, violates a cardinal rule of cinema and allows the audience to forget the dream of the film by constant interruptions by a narrator.",
"Now a narrator provides a useful function in written fiction, but only disturbs the delicate fabric of film.",
"Why is it necessary for the narrator to point out what we are seeing?",
"\"Newland felt this and Newland felt that\".",
"This is superfluous at best as Mr.",
"Lewis' visage and gestures, his mannerisms all convey the necessary information.",
"Why can't Scorcese allow his movies to speak for themselves?",
"Can you imagine \"Lawrence of Arabia\" or \"Citizen Kane\" with voiceovers?",
"In the latter masterpiece Welles' has characters in the film speak their voice overs which is what one wishes this director would do.",
"Imagine the first scene of \"The Godfather\" with voice overs.",
"\"At that time it was customary for Mafia Dons to throw the most lavish weddings imaginable for their daughters in hopes that.",
".",
".",
"\" Absurd."
] |
I do applaud Keith Richards for recording this solo album. After numerous years of showing what he could do as a Rolling Stone, I find it interesting hearing Keith keep his rock n roll roots while the late seventies and early to mid eighties Rolling Stones recordings were delving into the excesses of disco and punk. I Could Have Stood You Up is a nice bouncy rockabilly tune that features some neat solos from former Stone Mick Taylor. Make No Mistake features a nice duet between Keith and Sarah Dash with a nice mellow jazz/funk background. You Don't Move Me and Take It So Hard feature some classic Keith riffs even if the hooks are a little weak.
Probably what keeps this record from getting a higher grade is the overall lack of hooks. Many of the songs on the second half of the record just beat to deatht he same chord progression. Heck Rock A While sounds like a broken record all together. I guess that is why Mick Jagger was so essential to the Stones. He could write in a good change of pace chord sequence.
Anyway, this might be an interesting addition to most Stones fans collections. However, it rates more as interesting rather than spectacular. | 1 | neutral | [
"I do applaud Keith Richards for recording this solo album.",
"After numerous years of showing what he could do as a Rolling Stone, I find it interesting hearing Keith keep his rock n roll roots while the late seventies and early to mid eighties Rolling Stones recordings were delving into the excesses of disco and punk.",
"I Could Have Stood You Up is a nice bouncy rockabilly tune that features some neat solos from former Stone Mick Taylor.",
"Make No Mistake features a nice duet between Keith and Sarah Dash with a nice mellow jazz/funk background.",
"You Don't Move Me and Take It So Hard feature some classic Keith riffs even if the hooks are a little weak.",
"Probably what keeps this record from getting a higher grade is the overall lack of hooks.",
"Many of the songs on the second half of the record just beat to deatht he same chord progression.",
"Heck Rock A While sounds like a broken record all together.",
"I guess that is why Mick Jagger was so essential to the Stones.",
"He could write in a good change of pace chord sequence.",
"Anyway, this might be an interesting addition to most Stones fans collections.",
"However, it rates more as interesting rather than spectacular."
] |
The NES certainly had lots of classics that helped inspire hundreds of games today. One thing that bugs me, though, is whether Pinball is one of those classics or not. I mean, seriously.
It has only one virtual table, and there are other NES pinball games later on that go beyond that, like Pinball Quest, and Game Party (For the Japan-only Famicom, not the Wii game) offered pinball AND other activities.
But then again, there's a pinball game for DSiWare, with one table, and it was recommended to DSi owners. Since $4 copies of THIS game exist, I guess I can say that won't be a disappointment for pinball fans.
There's nothing I can really say about this game, because, well, it's Pinball. I'm pretty sure you know what Pinball is, right? There's nothing in this title that separates it from other pinball games other than the special stage.
The special stage shows a surprising appearance of Mario as you control him to bounce the ball for extra points. Other than that, it's your average pinball game with one table. At least this game goes pretty cheaply money-wise. | 1 | neutral | [
"The NES certainly had lots of classics that helped inspire hundreds of games today.",
"One thing that bugs me, though, is whether Pinball is one of those classics or not.",
"I mean, seriously.",
"It has only one virtual table, and there are other NES pinball games later on that go beyond that, like Pinball Quest, and Game Party (For the Japan-only Famicom, not the Wii game) offered pinball AND other activities.",
"But then again, there's a pinball game for DSiWare, with one table, and it was recommended to DSi owners.",
"Since $4 copies of THIS game exist, I guess I can say that won't be a disappointment for pinball fans.",
"There's nothing I can really say about this game, because, well, it's Pinball.",
"I'm pretty sure you know what Pinball is, right?",
"There's nothing in this title that separates it from other pinball games other than the special stage.",
"The special stage shows a surprising appearance of Mario as you control him to bounce the ball for extra points.",
"Other than that, it's your average pinball game with one table.",
"At least this game goes pretty cheaply money-wise."
] |
When I was a kid my buddy had one of the old 1930's Benjamin air guns with the straight-line pump, which shot lead BBs. I don't know what the muzzle velocity was on that old antique, but looking at the BBs I could sure see how the solid construction (compared to a diabolo pellet) and increased mass (compared to a steel BB) would make for some deadly penetration. Also softer lead BBs would eliminate most of the bounce-back danger of common steel BB's. So I was excited to see these BBs for sale here.
Unfortunately the quality control leaves much to be desired. Using a micrometer (I'm a professional machinist) I often find measurements ranging from .167" to .176" on a single BB, depending on which way I turn it. Also, 5 or 10% of them have major visible defects, such as flats or craters. About 5% are actually pretty round. Overall probably OK for plinking I guess, but not what they should be. | 1 | neutral | [
"When I was a kid my buddy had one of the old 1930's Benjamin air guns with the straight-line pump, which shot lead BBs.",
"I don't know what the muzzle velocity was on that old antique, but looking at the BBs I could sure see how the solid construction (compared to a diabolo pellet) and increased mass (compared to a steel BB) would make for some deadly penetration.",
"Also softer lead BBs would eliminate most of the bounce-back danger of common steel BB's.",
"So I was excited to see these BBs for sale here.",
"Unfortunately the quality control leaves much to be desired.",
"Using a micrometer (I'm a professional machinist) I often find measurements ranging from.",
"167\" to.",
"176\" on a single BB, depending on which way I turn it.",
"Also, 5 or 10% of them have major visible defects, such as flats or craters.",
"About 5% are actually pretty round.",
"Overall probably OK for plinking I guess, but not what they should be."
] |
Trend Micro Antivirus + Antispyware 2009 is not a complete security suite for your computer. It is an antivirus with an antispyware component, but is lacking three important things.
1. An email blocker to stop spam.
2. A blocker to stop malicious downloads for websites.
3. Alerts for unsafe websites.
While not a resource hog, Trend Micro does slow down basic Internet surfing somewhat. I found it's updates took a bit longer to receive and install than AVG, Kapersky and Vipre too.
After swearing off Norton and McAfee for their resource hogging properties as much as anything, and then off BitDefender for it's glitchy performance, I've tried many other antivirus programs. This one is mediocre and not feature-rich.
My advice: shop around and compare features. Price differences are minimal, and some offer many more features for about the same price. | 1 | neutral | [
"Trend Micro Antivirus + Antispyware 2009 is not a complete security suite for your computer.",
"It is an antivirus with an antispyware component, but is lacking three important things.",
"1.",
"An email blocker to stop spam.",
"2.",
"A blocker to stop malicious downloads for websites.",
"3.",
"Alerts for unsafe websites.",
"While not a resource hog, Trend Micro does slow down basic Internet surfing somewhat.",
"I found it's updates took a bit longer to receive and install than AVG, Kapersky and Vipre too.",
"After swearing off Norton and McAfee for their resource hogging properties as much as anything, and then off BitDefender for it's glitchy performance, I've tried many other antivirus programs.",
"This one is mediocre and not feature-rich.",
"My advice: shop around and compare features.",
"Price differences are minimal, and some offer many more features for about the same price."
] |
About the book:
Richie flips hamburgers for a living and even though he is a great worker, one of the best, he can't get an assistant manager position. His boss doesn't find him management material. To top it off he lives with his parents and doesn't have a girlfriend. In short, he feels like a loser.
Then into his life comes Jack Fates who gives him a 'do over' because life has been unkind to Richie. Going back 10 years, he gets to try to win his sweetheart, try to beat out the bully in school, and try for college once again. The only thing he must not do is tell anyone, make a profit on his future knowledge, or interfere with anyone else's life. If he does, he will find himself right back in the future with no changes.
As Richie drifts through school, he starts making small changes that end up to be big ones. He changes his name from Richie to Rich, his eyewear from glasses to contacts, his study habit from okay to good. He asks his female friend out on a date because he wants to learn how to do it. Everything goes along well until he has to make a life or death decision, one that may forever trap him in his previous future life.
My take:
The plot in Do Over was well constructed though it began to feel a bit like the movie Family Man. The rules Richie had to live under for what would be ten years seemed too strict for success. He does tell one person about his step back in time and gets a warning from Jack Fates that he is flirting with being returned to his old life. But the story never makes much about this break in the rules until much later in the book. What Richie must deal with is handling others misfortunes. He is not to do anything that drastically changes the life of another but how to you stand by knowing...
While the story itself was well executed, I didn't find the writing engaging or nor did I feel in touch with the characters. First, I think it is incredibly hard to write good stories, so I always marvel when someone does it perfectly and try not to be too hard when someone misses. It is too easy to say things like," I went to the movies with Jim. Mary came in at the last minute. She ate some of my popcorn." instead of drawing a picture of the scene. Too much of this book is told in this fashion. Seldom does the reader get to live inside the story. For me, I would have found it more fun to be part of the action.
This is a short read and I believe young people will enjoy the plot, twists and all. The dilemma is one I think anyone could enjoy. For the mere price of 99 cents as an e-book, less than a bottle of pop, you might want to take a chance on it. | 1 | neutral | [
"About the book:\n Richie flips hamburgers for a living and even though he is a great worker, one of the best, he can't get an assistant manager position.",
"His boss doesn't find him management material.",
"To top it off he lives with his parents and doesn't have a girlfriend.",
"In short, he feels like a loser.",
"Then into his life comes Jack Fates who gives him a 'do over' because life has been unkind to Richie.",
"Going back 10 years, he gets to try to win his sweetheart, try to beat out the bully in school, and try for college once again.",
"The only thing he must not do is tell anyone, make a profit on his future knowledge, or interfere with anyone else's life.",
"If he does, he will find himself right back in the future with no changes.",
"As Richie drifts through school, he starts making small changes that end up to be big ones.",
"He changes his name from Richie to Rich, his eyewear from glasses to contacts, his study habit from okay to good.",
"He asks his female friend out on a date because he wants to learn how to do it.",
"Everything goes along well until he has to make a life or death decision, one that may forever trap him in his previous future life.",
"My take:\n The plot in Do Over was well constructed though it began to feel a bit like the movie Family Man.",
"The rules Richie had to live under for what would be ten years seemed too strict for success.",
"He does tell one person about his step back in time and gets a warning from Jack Fates that he is flirting with being returned to his old life.",
"But the story never makes much about this break in the rules until much later in the book.",
"What Richie must deal with is handling others misfortunes.",
"He is not to do anything that drastically changes the life of another but how to you stand by knowing...",
"While the story itself was well executed, I didn't find the writing engaging or nor did I feel in touch with the characters.",
"First, I think it is incredibly hard to write good stories, so I always marvel when someone does it perfectly and try not to be too hard when someone misses.",
"It is too easy to say things like,\" I went to the movies with Jim.",
"Mary came in at the last minute.",
"She ate some of my popcorn.",
"\" instead of drawing a picture of the scene.",
"Too much of this book is told in this fashion.",
"Seldom does the reader get to live inside the story.",
"For me, I would have found it more fun to be part of the action.",
"This is a short read and I believe young people will enjoy the plot, twists and all.",
"The dilemma is one I think anyone could enjoy.",
"For the mere price of 99 cents as an e-book, less than a bottle of pop, you might want to take a chance on it."
] |
I enjoyed this novella. I didn't think the sex scenes were random and I thought they made sense and were well written. What I did think was odd, was that in a town of all werewolves a were-cougar apparently fits in until the elders decide she's going to be their alpha queen. Somehow, I don't know, that didn't make sense even though the author tried to explain it.
Another thing that bothered me was the amount of spelling and grammatical errors. It really bogged the story down for me.
What bothered me most was the serious skipping around by the author. I know that it's a novella, but if you introduce several problems in a story, it makes sense to deal with them. First the mating between Merrick and Nikki all by itself would have made a perfectly cool novella, but the author added another rival pack, a kidnapping of the brother of the alpha, and a traitor in their midst. The kidnapping rescue - I wanted to know about the process. It went from Nikki accepting a delivery from Merrick to the actual last bit of the rescue. I felt cheated by not getting more of that integral event. The book left things hanging with the traitor and I assume it will be picked up in the next novella, but still...I would have liked more than a HEA ending slapped on the end of a nearly devastating fight.
I'm not turned off the author entirely, but I certainly hope that the novella that follows is better reviewed for errors. All in all, I thought the sex scenes between Merrick and Nikki, the romance that blossomed for them, was great. It was all the extra stuff that fluffed around that main idea that queered the book for me. | 1 | neutral | [
"I enjoyed this novella.",
"I didn't think the sex scenes were random and I thought they made sense and were well written.",
"What I did think was odd, was that in a town of all werewolves a were-cougar apparently fits in until the elders decide she's going to be their alpha queen.",
"Somehow, I don't know, that didn't make sense even though the author tried to explain it.",
"Another thing that bothered me was the amount of spelling and grammatical errors.",
"It really bogged the story down for me.",
"What bothered me most was the serious skipping around by the author.",
"I know that it's a novella, but if you introduce several problems in a story, it makes sense to deal with them.",
"First the mating between Merrick and Nikki all by itself would have made a perfectly cool novella, but the author added another rival pack, a kidnapping of the brother of the alpha, and a traitor in their midst.",
"The kidnapping rescue - I wanted to know about the process.",
"It went from Nikki accepting a delivery from Merrick to the actual last bit of the rescue.",
"I felt cheated by not getting more of that integral event.",
"The book left things hanging with the traitor and I assume it will be picked up in the next novella, but still...",
"I would have liked more than a HEA ending slapped on the end of a nearly devastating fight.",
"I'm not turned off the author entirely, but I certainly hope that the novella that follows is better reviewed for errors.",
"All in all, I thought the sex scenes between Merrick and Nikki, the romance that blossomed for them, was great.",
"It was all the extra stuff that fluffed around that main idea that queered the book for me."
] |
There's nothing wrong with these stickers. They're exactly as advertised. What I don't understand is the pricing scheme between colors:
- Blue stickers are priced fairly and available with Prime.
- Red stickers are slightly cheaper than blue, but can only be purchased as an add-on item. (The price of blue is not enough to qualify to order them, so you cannot order just red and blue stickers.)
- Green stickers are over twice the price of blue, and are not prime eligible (but do come with free shipping.)
What is this nonsense? Why am I not allowed to purchase red stickers without buying something expensive? Is there something about green stickers that makes them inherently more expensive than blue? Is there some sort of green sticker shortage in this country?
Other than this gripe, the blue stickers are perfectly fine. | 1 | neutral | [
"There's nothing wrong with these stickers.",
"They're exactly as advertised.",
"What I don't understand is the pricing scheme between colors:\n\n- Blue stickers are priced fairly and available with Prime.",
"- Red stickers are slightly cheaper than blue, but can only be purchased as an add-on item.",
"(The price of blue is not enough to qualify to order them, so you cannot order just red and blue stickers.",
")\n- Green stickers are over twice the price of blue, and are not prime eligible (but do come with free shipping.",
")\n\nWhat is this nonsense?",
"Why am I not allowed to purchase red stickers without buying something expensive?",
"Is there something about green stickers that makes them inherently more expensive than blue?",
"Is there some sort of green sticker shortage in this country?",
"Other than this gripe, the blue stickers are perfectly fine."
] |
All different sizes in the package. I could understand if there was a half size deviation between the five rings in the package since the description of the product I purchased said 7.5 to 8. But the size difference is more like 7.5 to 9.5. As a result only two out of the five rings is the proper size. see picture. The rings with a color stripe in the middle are larger. The solid black and solid gray are true sized. From picture of my fingers you can see the rings get progressively bigger. | 1 | neutral | [
"All different sizes in the package.",
"I could understand if there was a half size deviation between the five rings in the package since the description of the product I purchased said 7.",
"5 to 8.",
"But the size difference is more like 7.",
"5 to 9.",
"5. As a result only two out of the five rings is the proper size.",
"see picture.",
"The rings with a color stripe in the middle are larger.",
"The solid black and solid gray are true sized.",
"From picture of my fingers you can see the rings get progressively bigger."
] |
This is an undistinguished but competent lens, a viable solution for DX users looking for a "normal" lens at a bargain price, and a useful and inexpensive wide angle for FX and film shooters.
It can not be said that Nikon spared no expense in the development of this lens. They spared plenty, settling on a minimalist, simple, proven optical formula, without the close-range correction (CRC) used in some of its more-expensive contemporaries, and with an unambitious f/2.8 maximum aperture. That last detail, in today's world of small-frame DX DSLRs, becomes the lens' single major drawback. Today's zoom lenses are good enough to equal the performance of a prime in most regards, making fast apertures the last remnant of fixed-focal-length superiority in the minds of most photographers, and a prime lens as slow as an f/2.8 professional zoom is left with comparatively little to recommend it. Yet that has ironically led to this lens' one significant advantage: it has remained cheap while prices for other lenses have risen significantly, and for those whose needs it meets, it can be seen as quite a bargain.
Its performance is perfectly respectable. In fact, wide-open at normal shooting distances, it is already quite sharp, something that can not be said for many fast primes, and it manages to provide crisp, modern, contrasty color renditions, no doubt thanks to state of the art - as of its introduction - lens coatings. It has the nice, rather frictionless focus feel that was common to most early AF primes, with the easy-to-reach, front-mounted focusing ring that was a welcome holdover from manual-focus days. Many newer lenses, with focus rings hidden from easy reach (behind the zoom ring, for example) are much more difficult to use when manual focus is called for, although most do have the advantage of allowing instant manual over-ride. Like any AF-D lens, the user of this lens must flip a switch on the camera body to disengage the focus motor and switch from auto to manual focus.
There is one other nice feature of this lens that holds up very well in today's DSLR world, and that it its 28mm focal length. While anything in the 28mm-35mm range can be considered a "normal" lens for DX, Nikon's own 35mm DX prime is a bit on the long side for many, and at 28mm this lens represents an excellent alternative. I've owned and used (and posted a review of) the 35/1.8G, and I love it, but in my opinion this is one of its drawbacks. I personally prefer the slightly wider field of view of the 28mm perspective, which in my experience is a bit handier for indoor photography in tighter spaces and a bit more natural-feeling as a "normal" lens for DX. Sigma's 30mm f/1.4 is another alternative, and faster, but I found my copy to be mediocre at wide apertures and would generally hold it to f/2.8 or so anyway, taking away much of its advantage of speed - and it is a much more expensive lens.
The 28mm begins to look like a very good choice when its workmanlike performance, its "normal" field of view, and its small size are considered against its very low current price. For DX users, this lens is not exactly a bargain when purchased new - it is more expensive than the 35mm/1.8G, for example - but used prices are a different story, and for photographers willing to buy used, it can be a bargain. For a DX shooter on a budget, who is looking for a "normal" lens and who does not already have a professional-level midrange zoom that offers an f/2.8 aperture, the 28mm can be a uniquely affordable and versatile tool for general photography. Combined with inexpensive standard and telephoto zooms, this lens can complete a modest collection of starter lenses that will leave very few types of photography off limits. In fact, somebody looking to start out in SLR photography on a budget could do a lot worse than to pick up a decent copy of this lens, a used Nikon D50/D70/D80, and begin making pictures limited in quality only by their own talents.
My rating of three stars for this lens should not be considered negative. I don't think a higher rating is justified, and I don't believe in rating lenses on a sliding scale depending on their price - a four star lens is a four star lens, whether it sells for $150 or ten times that. It is up to the reader to make their own judgement as to whether the price makes the lens a more or less compelling purchase. This lens does exactly what it is supposed to do, and it does it well. The basis for my rating is as follows: the lens performs competently, but not spectacularly, as a 28mm prime. By itself, that would probably justify four stars, but it's only fair to also take into account its very modest design capabilities. Its slow speed in particular, compared with other lenses of its type, reduces its appeal; and the lack of a sophisticated, highly corrected optical formula is a factor as well. This lens, while possibly a bargain and a fine choice for many photographers, is practically the definition of average in terms of performance, and that's how I rate it.
Miscellaneous notes:
- Vs. Nikon's 35mm f/1.8G: The 35/1.8 is a bit sharper, but the 28/2.8 is sharp as well. With mostly minor distinctions, these lenses do pretty much the same things on DX, and the 28mm can be picked up on the used market for much less than the 35mm sells for. The real distinctions between these lenses are the price, the speed, and the focal length. While most will understandably settle on the 35mm, for many photographers the 28mm could be the better choice.
- Vs. Sigma's 30mm f/1.4: My copy of the Sigma was mediocre at wide apertures, removing most of its advantage over the 28mm Nikkor. It is much heavier, much more expensive to buy either new or used, and has very close to the same field of view. If speed is paramount, it is the obvious choice - otherwise the Nikon's price and overall performance make it the better buy (with the Nikon 35/1.8G probably better still).
- For FX: It's tougher to make an argument for this lens on FX. FX shooters are less likely to be bargain hunters, and there are better choices almost regardless of one's criteria for selecting a lens. I can envision a narrow niche for an FX shooter who wants an unobtrusive, lightweight lens and a moderate wide-angle view; and in such a case, this lens' low purchase price makes it a perfectly satisfactory option. Sigma's 30mm and Nikon's 35/1.8G are DX lenses and are therefore removed from consideration for FX shooters. The obvious alternatives on FX would be Nikon's 35mm f/2D or 24mm f/2.8D - but in reality, for most FX users the real alternative will be an f/2.8 midrange zoom.
- Buying new vs buying used: Good lenses tend to hold their value very well, and they last a long time. Consequently the market for used lenses is vibrant and relatively efficient. In the case of this lens, the disparity between the new purchase price and the current used market value is high, and I would advise any prospective purchaser of this lens to find a good used copy from a reputable source, such as many of the used vendors right here on Amazon. Be sure to price-check against other vendors to ensure you're getting a fair price, of course. Buying used avoids the large one-time depreciation from buying new and will probably allow the user to re-sell the lens at some time in the future with little or no loss of value. This is a good strategy for any cost-conscious photographer. | 1 | neutral | [
"This is an undistinguished but competent lens, a viable solution for DX users looking for a \"normal\" lens at a bargain price, and a useful and inexpensive wide angle for FX and film shooters.",
"It can not be said that Nikon spared no expense in the development of this lens.",
"They spared plenty, settling on a minimalist, simple, proven optical formula, without the close-range correction (CRC) used in some of its more-expensive contemporaries, and with an unambitious f/2.",
"8 maximum aperture.",
"That last detail, in today's world of small-frame DX DSLRs, becomes the lens' single major drawback.",
"Today's zoom lenses are good enough to equal the performance of a prime in most regards, making fast apertures the last remnant of fixed-focal-length superiority in the minds of most photographers, and a prime lens as slow as an f/2.",
"8 professional zoom is left with comparatively little to recommend it.",
"Yet that has ironically led to this lens' one significant advantage: it has remained cheap while prices for other lenses have risen significantly, and for those whose needs it meets, it can be seen as quite a bargain.",
"Its performance is perfectly respectable.",
"In fact, wide-open at normal shooting distances, it is already quite sharp, something that can not be said for many fast primes, and it manages to provide crisp, modern, contrasty color renditions, no doubt thanks to state of the art - as of its introduction - lens coatings.",
"It has the nice, rather frictionless focus feel that was common to most early AF primes, with the easy-to-reach, front-mounted focusing ring that was a welcome holdover from manual-focus days.",
"Many newer lenses, with focus rings hidden from easy reach (behind the zoom ring, for example) are much more difficult to use when manual focus is called for, although most do have the advantage of allowing instant manual over-ride.",
"Like any AF-D lens, the user of this lens must flip a switch on the camera body to disengage the focus motor and switch from auto to manual focus.",
"There is one other nice feature of this lens that holds up very well in today's DSLR world, and that it its 28mm focal length.",
"While anything in the 28mm-35mm range can be considered a \"normal\" lens for DX, Nikon's own 35mm DX prime is a bit on the long side for many, and at 28mm this lens represents an excellent alternative.",
"I've owned and used (and posted a review of) the 35/1.",
"8G, and I love it, but in my opinion this is one of its drawbacks.",
"I personally prefer the slightly wider field of view of the 28mm perspective, which in my experience is a bit handier for indoor photography in tighter spaces and a bit more natural-feeling as a \"normal\" lens for DX.",
"Sigma's 30mm f/1.",
"4 is another alternative, and faster, but I found my copy to be mediocre at wide apertures and would generally hold it to f/2.",
"8 or so anyway, taking away much of its advantage of speed - and it is a much more expensive lens.",
"The 28mm begins to look like a very good choice when its workmanlike performance, its \"normal\" field of view, and its small size are considered against its very low current price.",
"For DX users, this lens is not exactly a bargain when purchased new - it is more expensive than the 35mm/1.",
"8G, for example - but used prices are a different story, and for photographers willing to buy used, it can be a bargain.",
"For a DX shooter on a budget, who is looking for a \"normal\" lens and who does not already have a professional-level midrange zoom that offers an f/2.",
"8 aperture, the 28mm can be a uniquely affordable and versatile tool for general photography.",
"Combined with inexpensive standard and telephoto zooms, this lens can complete a modest collection of starter lenses that will leave very few types of photography off limits.",
"In fact, somebody looking to start out in SLR photography on a budget could do a lot worse than to pick up a decent copy of this lens, a used Nikon D50/D70/D80, and begin making pictures limited in quality only by their own talents.",
"My rating of three stars for this lens should not be considered negative.",
"I don't think a higher rating is justified, and I don't believe in rating lenses on a sliding scale depending on their price - a four star lens is a four star lens, whether it sells for $150 or ten times that.",
"It is up to the reader to make their own judgement as to whether the price makes the lens a more or less compelling purchase.",
"This lens does exactly what it is supposed to do, and it does it well.",
"The basis for my rating is as follows: the lens performs competently, but not spectacularly, as a 28mm prime.",
"By itself, that would probably justify four stars, but it's only fair to also take into account its very modest design capabilities.",
"Its slow speed in particular, compared with other lenses of its type, reduces its appeal; and the lack of a sophisticated, highly corrected optical formula is a factor as well.",
"This lens, while possibly a bargain and a fine choice for many photographers, is practically the definition of average in terms of performance, and that's how I rate it.",
"Miscellaneous notes:\n\n- Vs.",
"Nikon's 35mm f/1.",
"8G: The 35/1.",
"8 is a bit sharper, but the 28/2.",
"8 is sharp as well.",
"With mostly minor distinctions, these lenses do pretty much the same things on DX, and the 28mm can be picked up on the used market for much less than the 35mm sells for.",
"The real distinctions between these lenses are the price, the speed, and the focal length.",
"While most will understandably settle on the 35mm, for many photographers the 28mm could be the better choice.",
"- Vs.",
"Sigma's 30mm f/1.",
"4: My copy of the Sigma was mediocre at wide apertures, removing most of its advantage over the 28mm Nikkor.",
"It is much heavier, much more expensive to buy either new or used, and has very close to the same field of view.",
"If speed is paramount, it is the obvious choice - otherwise the Nikon's price and overall performance make it the better buy (with the Nikon 35/1.",
"8G probably better still).",
"- For FX: It's tougher to make an argument for this lens on FX.",
"FX shooters are less likely to be bargain hunters, and there are better choices almost regardless of one's criteria for selecting a lens.",
"I can envision a narrow niche for an FX shooter who wants an unobtrusive, lightweight lens and a moderate wide-angle view; and in such a case, this lens' low purchase price makes it a perfectly satisfactory option.",
"Sigma's 30mm and Nikon's 35/1.",
"8G are DX lenses and are therefore removed from consideration for FX shooters.",
"The obvious alternatives on FX would be Nikon's 35mm f/2D or 24mm f/2.",
"8D - but in reality, for most FX users the real alternative will be an f/2.",
"8 midrange zoom.",
"- Buying new vs buying used: Good lenses tend to hold their value very well, and they last a long time.",
"Consequently the market for used lenses is vibrant and relatively efficient.",
"In the case of this lens, the disparity between the new purchase price and the current used market value is high, and I would advise any prospective purchaser of this lens to find a good used copy from a reputable source, such as many of the used vendors right here on Amazon.",
"Be sure to price-check against other vendors to ensure you're getting a fair price, of course.",
"Buying used avoids the large one-time depreciation from buying new and will probably allow the user to re-sell the lens at some time in the future with little or no loss of value.",
"This is a good strategy for any cost-conscious photographer."
] |
Very sharp. I've only used it once. The boyfriend has used it a few times. It's a great purchase. The only thing I didn't like, is that the slice sizes are too big. I like thinner apple sizes. That has nothing to do with the product itself. Its just my personal preference. Overall, great quality item for the price I paid. Cuts the apples nicely. The handles feel like they have a good grip. | 1 | neutral | [
"Very sharp.",
"I've only used it once.",
"The boyfriend has used it a few times.",
"It's a great purchase.",
"The only thing I didn't like, is that the slice sizes are too big.",
"I like thinner apple sizes.",
"That has nothing to do with the product itself.",
"Its just my personal preference.",
"Overall, great quality item for the price I paid.",
"Cuts the apples nicely.",
"The handles feel like they have a good grip."
] |
First off, I am not a 2K fan boy, and DEFINTELY not a Madden fanboy. Know that this is my FIRST 2K football game ever. I never got a chance to play NFL 2K5 as I was still playing Madden/NCAA 03 at the time. After being disappointed with Madden/NCAA for the 2003 release I skipped over the 04 and 05 editions, and because it was so late in the season I decided to skip NFL 2K5 as well, planning on getting NFL 2K6 the following year, but EA changed that and I was stuck with the EA football titles for the foreseeable future. I decided to give EA one last chance, and they failed again with Madden/NCAA 06. At this point I decided I was done with EASports and since they had the monopoly I figured I was done with football games for good.
Then 3 years later 2K decides to get back in the football gaming market and I was very excited, finally a choice in football gaming again and true football fans wouldn't have to be stuck with EA's monopoly.
I picked this game up recently, in fact a couple of days before I got my XBOX back from Microsoft. I was finally able to play one game last night, and I must say I am pretty impressed.
When you first start up the game, you are instantly prompted to build you own team, there are no predefined teams on this game so every team you use, you have to create them from scratch. You are allowed 2 Gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze rated former NFL players to build you team. The rest of the team is filled by generic players. You have over 240 former NFL players most of them being all-stars during their careers. Some notable names include Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Elway, Reggie White, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, and Williams "Refrigerator" Perry. While you might recognize many of the names included in this years release, you will also notice some missing, some right of the top of my head are Howie Long, Michael Irvin and Jim Kelly. That is not to say the list provided is disappointing, 240 players is plenty especially considering 2K had to individually sign these players.
After you select your players and choose the generic players to fill you team, you are taken to a screen to select your city, team nickname, logo, and stadium and after your done, you then go into actually editing your teams uniforms all the way down to how many stripes the players' socks will have and the color of their shoes, helmets and face masks. You can even change the colors of the team's logo. There are tons and tons of different combinations you can choose and this can be very long and drawn out considering how much you care about how your team uniforms (home and away) look on the field, but the game already has predefined color schemes so if you just want to get to the action, you can skip this all together. If you do decide to edit your team, then just know the menu is very cumbersome and admittedly not very intuitive as it should be. In fact it took me a while to figure out how to change my team's helmet colors from white to black.
After your team is created it is saved and you are ready to go. You are then taken to the game's main screen where you can either choose to play a quick exhibition game against one of the computer created teams or go into season mode. I just wanted a quick game so I just choose a quick match in my home stadium.
The first thing you will notice about the game that these are not truly Next Gen graphics. Even in HD at best they look slightly better than HD regular XBOX games. But believe me there is much more to a game than jaw dropping graphics, and I found that out after the ball was kicked off in my very first game. As soon as the ball was kicked off I knew that this was going to be a football game like none other I have experienced before. First off the players move realistically. I hadn't noticed and robotic like movements of them running like they are trying to make it to the bathroom before they have an accident. The tackling animations are also quite more realistic than I have seen in other games. There is real gang tackling here and not anything like the "hey, I'm going to hold you, while my teammate comes and hits you" crap. There are no sled animations or seeing receivers skate to the ball either. Even the sidelines have animated players that react to plays on the field and attempt to get out of the way if they see a player out of control flying towards them. Other times, they'll step in and grab him to stop his momentum.
The game plays like football is supposed to be played. No longer can you back up 30 yards and throw 80 yard bombs all day, because chances are you will be sacked or more often than not your pass will be knocked down if you're lucky. Your linemen block who they are supposed to block and don't miss an obvious block just so they can go block a free safety 15 yards away who is not even in the play to begin with. On the defensive end of the ball players react well to both the run and pass. Don't expect 20+ yard runs on every single possession, if you do manage to get a long gain you better believe the D will adjust incase you try that crap on the very next play. In the running game you have WORK for your yardage, you have to find the hole and hit it hard. If you just dance around in the back field you WILL get your bell rung. Take a hole and go for it. Passing is also quite realistic and very rewarding when you complete a long pass play on 3rd and long. The defense reacts pretty well to the ball and will knock it down if they can't quite get two hands on it. If you throw in double coverage too often you will pay for it, if your throw is too late or too early the D will knock it down. As good as the AI is on both sides of the ball, I never got the feeling that it was "cheating" like other games I have played in the past. I remember in the said game, I would be running for a first down, clearly beating the defender and all of a sudden he makes a dive for me at the wrong angle and then while in MIDAIR, he body changes direction just so he can stop me; this is not the case in APF2K8, if you have a man beat you have him beat, and the only thing he can hope for is that he has enough foot speed to catch you. Another thing I used to hate on the "other" game is that when my defender had the perfect angle on a guy going towards the end zone and I will dive towards him clearly expecting at least some contact between my defender and the ball carrier only the have the game take over and cause my guy to dive in the complete opposite direction of the ball carrier. I can't tell you how frustrating that was! But that is no longer the case in this game, if you have an angle and time your hit right, you will at least make contact with the ball carrier getting him to go down is another story if you are dealing with the bruiser gold/silver/bronze star RB's.
Another thing I like about the game is that the halftime show shows actual video highlights from the game you are playing and the same is true for the post game show. While the commentators start getting repetitive after a while, its still good to go back and see the big plays of the game without having to rely on your saved replays all the time. Other things I like about the game are the stadium mascots that do various things after the home team makes a big play, if you are the Assassins and score a touch down, the giant hooded "assassin" at the end zone will perform a stabbing motion, if you are the Firebirds the bird will squawk and flap its wings, there is even one team that has two battle ships that shoot off its cannons! In addition to this the crowd always seems to be in the game, you make a big play they respond with ecstatic cheering, if you make a stupid play, then you will get booed....loudly. Another final thing I would like to mention is that if your XBOX is online while you are playing a game, you will get up to date sports tickers from the real world of sports. Even though it really does not add to the game you are playing its still a cool feature. It's nice always being in touch with the real sports world while I'm playing video games.
As much as I like the actual game, there are handful of flaws that are disappointing and one that is downright frustrating. First of all if you already didn't know, there is no franchise mode. So the team you create for offline play can only go through one season and that's it. No continuing to a next season, and no tracking career stats etc. The most you can do is take that same team though the same team again with a slightly different scheduled, or just create another team all together. In addition the Season mode itself is pretty limited. There is not even an ability to "watch" other games that your team is not playing in, and even more, you can only bring ONE of your created teams into season mode. This was a disappointment, especially for someone who primarily plays offline 99% of the time. I've tried online play before with other games, and if you have read my last reviews you will see that I am not a big fan of online play, playing people I don't know, most of who are cheesers, whiners and glitchers. The only time I will play someone online, is if I know them in real life. The lack of franchise mode bothered me, but not enough not to get this game. I have always heard 2K made the best football games, and if APF was anything like the NBA 2K series, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed in the game play. The other limitation is a big one, even bigger than the lack of franchise mode in many ways. You are only limited to creating 8 teams in the game, meaning that at any one time you only have 8 teams to choose from as you can't play with any of the CPU's teams. This is not a big problem in itself, because I would have expected some sort of limitation on the amount of teams you could create. However, this 8 team limit is PER storage unit, and NOT per profile. This means that no matter how many profiles you have on your XBOX, there are only 8 teams to go around for all of the profiles as the roster file with your teams is not saved to individual profiles but to the memory unit itself. If you have a memory unit, then that is another 8 teams, but a bigger problem is that only ONE roster file can be loaded at one time. So say you create 8 teams on your Xbox, and your friend creates 8 teams on his memory card and brings it over to your house, there is no way your teams can play your friends' teams as its one roster file or the other. If you friend loads his roster file to your game, then YOU have to play with his teams, and vice versa. The only way this can be done is if you play over XBL, and in the case that your friend or family member live in the same house, then you are pretty much SOL if the two of you want to play your created teams against each other. This is a big oversight on 2K's part, it's like they completely forgot about the offline gamer to focus on online play. I can deal with no franchise mode for the first year, but only being able to choose from 8 teams at a time is a big minus. I'm pretty sure person A's friend wouldn't want to be forced to play with his friend's A teams when person B spent so much time creating his own teams and vice versa. There should be no reason why person B can't take his MNU over to friend A's house and have a blast pitting their created teams against each other....but you can't.
I agree that the actual game play in this game is much better than Madden has ever been and when playing it's no doubt the best football game I ever had the opportunity to play. If you are an online gamer, then this is a no-brainer. However if you are only concerned with offline play, then think hard before you spend $60 on this because if you don't know all the limitations before going in, you will be quite disappointed. Personally I am pleased with the game overall, but to be honest the lack of offline features is quite a disappointment. I am by no means a Madden supporter or an EASports supporter in general, but have sense enough to know if 2K expects to make in the football gaming market which they no doubt should, they really have to appeal to all types of gamers, both offline and online. One strike against 2K from the get go is that EASports has a monopoly on the NFL and NCAA Football. Adding to that fact, the suits over at EA are way too rich and have a very big fan base for 2K to continue to leave important features out of their football games. I don't EVER expect them to outsell Madden even though to me 2K football's game play is light years ahead of arcadey, unrealistic game play of Madden. However if they don't start to appeal to all types of gamers then many fans will have no reason to "take a chance" with 2K and will end up buying Madden instead. Others like me who can't stand Madden will just do without a football game all together, as I have been doing for the past two years.
This game has a solid foundation with superb game play (which is the most important part of any game). It just needs more stuff to go with it; and no I'm not talking about the gimmick crap Madden makes a big deal out of every year, I'm talking about things that will actually improve the game, (i.e. Franchise, ability to play two profiles created teams against one another). I like playing with the Legends, but if the Legends are what's holding 2K back from doing a franchise, then I say scrap the legends and go with all generic players, many fans who don't care about the NFL license or using "real" players would still no doubt appreciate the game play. Maybe even have a single season mode with Legends and a franchise mode with all generic players. The possibilities are abundant with a little creative thinking. A bigger issue is only being able to choose from 8 teams to play with. At least give gamers the ability to load more teams from separate profiles to increase the choices! This limitation is bad enough in the first release, and will be unacceptable in all future releases.
This is 2K's first year back in football gaming in a few years, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt this year, giving them some time to work out the many missing options. Despite the disappointments, the bottom line is that this is a very fun football game. However if 2K wants to continue to produce this series and have "success" with it, they will really have to bring it in the future. I desperately wanted to give this game 4 stars, but my conscious won't allow it. I'll put it this way, if you are an offline player like me, this game gets 3.5, if I was primarily an online player, then the lack of feature in offline wouldn't bother me so it would get a four at least. In either case, it gets a perfect 5 for fun.
All that said, welcome back 2K! It's about time we have a choice in football gaming again! Let's just hope EA doesn't figure out how to license the sport of football itself so they can take the easy punk way out again by buying their way out of competition. | 1 | neutral | [
"First off, I am not a 2K fan boy, and DEFINTELY not a Madden fanboy.",
"Know that this is my FIRST 2K football game ever.",
"I never got a chance to play NFL 2K5 as I was still playing Madden/NCAA 03 at the time.",
"After being disappointed with Madden/NCAA for the 2003 release I skipped over the 04 and 05 editions, and because it was so late in the season I decided to skip NFL 2K5 as well, planning on getting NFL 2K6 the following year, but EA changed that and I was stuck with the EA football titles for the foreseeable future.",
"I decided to give EA one last chance, and they failed again with Madden/NCAA 06.",
"At this point I decided I was done with EASports and since they had the monopoly I figured I was done with football games for good.",
"Then 3 years later 2K decides to get back in the football gaming market and I was very excited, finally a choice in football gaming again and true football fans wouldn't have to be stuck with EA's monopoly.",
"I picked this game up recently, in fact a couple of days before I got my XBOX back from Microsoft.",
"I was finally able to play one game last night, and I must say I am pretty impressed.",
"When you first start up the game, you are instantly prompted to build you own team, there are no predefined teams on this game so every team you use, you have to create them from scratch.",
"You are allowed 2 Gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze rated former NFL players to build you team.",
"The rest of the team is filled by generic players.",
"You have over 240 former NFL players most of them being all-stars during their careers.",
"Some notable names include Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Elway, Reggie White, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, and Williams \"Refrigerator\" Perry.",
"While you might recognize many of the names included in this years release, you will also notice some missing, some right of the top of my head are Howie Long, Michael Irvin and Jim Kelly.",
"That is not to say the list provided is disappointing, 240 players is plenty especially considering 2K had to individually sign these players.",
"After you select your players and choose the generic players to fill you team, you are taken to a screen to select your city, team nickname, logo, and stadium and after your done, you then go into actually editing your teams uniforms all the way down to how many stripes the players' socks will have and the color of their shoes, helmets and face masks.",
"You can even change the colors of the team's logo.",
"There are tons and tons of different combinations you can choose and this can be very long and drawn out considering how much you care about how your team uniforms (home and away) look on the field, but the game already has predefined color schemes so if you just want to get to the action, you can skip this all together.",
"If you do decide to edit your team, then just know the menu is very cumbersome and admittedly not very intuitive as it should be.",
"In fact it took me a while to figure out how to change my team's helmet colors from white to black.",
"After your team is created it is saved and you are ready to go.",
"You are then taken to the game's main screen where you can either choose to play a quick exhibition game against one of the computer created teams or go into season mode.",
"I just wanted a quick game so I just choose a quick match in my home stadium.",
"The first thing you will notice about the game that these are not truly Next Gen graphics.",
"Even in HD at best they look slightly better than HD regular XBOX games.",
"But believe me there is much more to a game than jaw dropping graphics, and I found that out after the ball was kicked off in my very first game.",
"As soon as the ball was kicked off I knew that this was going to be a football game like none other I have experienced before.",
"First off the players move realistically.",
"I hadn't noticed and robotic like movements of them running like they are trying to make it to the bathroom before they have an accident.",
"The tackling animations are also quite more realistic than I have seen in other games.",
"There is real gang tackling here and not anything like the \"hey, I'm going to hold you, while my teammate comes and hits you\" crap.",
"There are no sled animations or seeing receivers skate to the ball either.",
"Even the sidelines have animated players that react to plays on the field and attempt to get out of the way if they see a player out of control flying towards them.",
"Other times, they'll step in and grab him to stop his momentum.",
"The game plays like football is supposed to be played.",
"No longer can you back up 30 yards and throw 80 yard bombs all day, because chances are you will be sacked or more often than not your pass will be knocked down if you're lucky.",
"Your linemen block who they are supposed to block and don't miss an obvious block just so they can go block a free safety 15 yards away who is not even in the play to begin with.",
"On the defensive end of the ball players react well to both the run and pass.",
"Don't expect 20+ yard runs on every single possession, if you do manage to get a long gain you better believe the D will adjust incase you try that crap on the very next play.",
"In the running game you have WORK for your yardage, you have to find the hole and hit it hard.",
"If you just dance around in the back field you WILL get your bell rung.",
"Take a hole and go for it.",
"Passing is also quite realistic and very rewarding when you complete a long pass play on 3rd and long.",
"The defense reacts pretty well to the ball and will knock it down if they can't quite get two hands on it.",
"If you throw in double coverage too often you will pay for it, if your throw is too late or too early the D will knock it down.",
"As good as the AI is on both sides of the ball, I never got the feeling that it was \"cheating\" like other games I have played in the past.",
"I remember in the said game, I would be running for a first down, clearly beating the defender and all of a sudden he makes a dive for me at the wrong angle and then while in MIDAIR, he body changes direction just so he can stop me; this is not the case in APF2K8, if you have a man beat you have him beat, and the only thing he can hope for is that he has enough foot speed to catch you.",
"Another thing I used to hate on the \"other\" game is that when my defender had the perfect angle on a guy going towards the end zone and I will dive towards him clearly expecting at least some contact between my defender and the ball carrier only the have the game take over and cause my guy to dive in the complete opposite direction of the ball carrier.",
"I can't tell you how frustrating that was!",
"But that is no longer the case in this game, if you have an angle and time your hit right, you will at least make contact with the ball carrier getting him to go down is another story if you are dealing with the bruiser gold/silver/bronze star RB's.",
"Another thing I like about the game is that the halftime show shows actual video highlights from the game you are playing and the same is true for the post game show.",
"While the commentators start getting repetitive after a while, its still good to go back and see the big plays of the game without having to rely on your saved replays all the time.",
"Other things I like about the game are the stadium mascots that do various things after the home team makes a big play, if you are the Assassins and score a touch down, the giant hooded \"assassin\" at the end zone will perform a stabbing motion, if you are the Firebirds the bird will squawk and flap its wings, there is even one team that has two battle ships that shoot off its cannons!",
"In addition to this the crowd always seems to be in the game, you make a big play they respond with ecstatic cheering, if you make a stupid play, then you will get booed....",
"loudly.",
"Another final thing I would like to mention is that if your XBOX is online while you are playing a game, you will get up to date sports tickers from the real world of sports.",
"Even though it really does not add to the game you are playing its still a cool feature.",
"It's nice always being in touch with the real sports world while I'm playing video games.",
"As much as I like the actual game, there are handful of flaws that are disappointing and one that is downright frustrating.",
"First of all if you already didn't know, there is no franchise mode.",
"So the team you create for offline play can only go through one season and that's it.",
"No continuing to a next season, and no tracking career stats etc.",
"The most you can do is take that same team though the same team again with a slightly different scheduled, or just create another team all together.",
"In addition the Season mode itself is pretty limited.",
"There is not even an ability to \"watch\" other games that your team is not playing in, and even more, you can only bring ONE of your created teams into season mode.",
"This was a disappointment, especially for someone who primarily plays offline 99% of the time.",
"I've tried online play before with other games, and if you have read my last reviews you will see that I am not a big fan of online play, playing people I don't know, most of who are cheesers, whiners and glitchers.",
"The only time I will play someone online, is if I know them in real life.",
"The lack of franchise mode bothered me, but not enough not to get this game.",
"I have always heard 2K made the best football games, and if APF was anything like the NBA 2K series, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed in the game play.",
"The other limitation is a big one, even bigger than the lack of franchise mode in many ways.",
"You are only limited to creating 8 teams in the game, meaning that at any one time you only have 8 teams to choose from as you can't play with any of the CPU's teams.",
"This is not a big problem in itself, because I would have expected some sort of limitation on the amount of teams you could create.",
"However, this 8 team limit is PER storage unit, and NOT per profile.",
"This means that no matter how many profiles you have on your XBOX, there are only 8 teams to go around for all of the profiles as the roster file with your teams is not saved to individual profiles but to the memory unit itself.",
"If you have a memory unit, then that is another 8 teams, but a bigger problem is that only ONE roster file can be loaded at one time.",
"So say you create 8 teams on your Xbox, and your friend creates 8 teams on his memory card and brings it over to your house, there is no way your teams can play your friends' teams as its one roster file or the other.",
"If you friend loads his roster file to your game, then YOU have to play with his teams, and vice versa.",
"The only way this can be done is if you play over XBL, and in the case that your friend or family member live in the same house, then you are pretty much SOL if the two of you want to play your created teams against each other.",
"This is a big oversight on 2K's part, it's like they completely forgot about the offline gamer to focus on online play.",
"I can deal with no franchise mode for the first year, but only being able to choose from 8 teams at a time is a big minus.",
"I'm pretty sure person A's friend wouldn't want to be forced to play with his friend's A teams when person B spent so much time creating his own teams and vice versa.",
"There should be no reason why person B can't take his MNU over to friend A's house and have a blast pitting their created teams against each other....",
"but you can't.",
"I agree that the actual game play in this game is much better than Madden has ever been and when playing it's no doubt the best football game I ever had the opportunity to play.",
"If you are an online gamer, then this is a no-brainer.",
"However if you are only concerned with offline play, then think hard before you spend $60 on this because if you don't know all the limitations before going in, you will be quite disappointed.",
"Personally I am pleased with the game overall, but to be honest the lack of offline features is quite a disappointment.",
"I am by no means a Madden supporter or an EASports supporter in general, but have sense enough to know if 2K expects to make in the football gaming market which they no doubt should, they really have to appeal to all types of gamers, both offline and online.",
"One strike against 2K from the get go is that EASports has a monopoly on the NFL and NCAA Football.",
"Adding to that fact, the suits over at EA are way too rich and have a very big fan base for 2K to continue to leave important features out of their football games.",
"I don't EVER expect them to outsell Madden even though to me 2K football's game play is light years ahead of arcadey, unrealistic game play of Madden.",
"However if they don't start to appeal to all types of gamers then many fans will have no reason to \"take a chance\" with 2K and will end up buying Madden instead.",
"Others like me who can't stand Madden will just do without a football game all together, as I have been doing for the past two years.",
"This game has a solid foundation with superb game play (which is the most important part of any game).",
"It just needs more stuff to go with it; and no I'm not talking about the gimmick crap Madden makes a big deal out of every year, I'm talking about things that will actually improve the game, (i.",
"e. Franchise, ability to play two profiles created teams against one another).",
"I like playing with the Legends, but if the Legends are what's holding 2K back from doing a franchise, then I say scrap the legends and go with all generic players, many fans who don't care about the NFL license or using \"real\" players would still no doubt appreciate the game play.",
"Maybe even have a single season mode with Legends and a franchise mode with all generic players.",
"The possibilities are abundant with a little creative thinking.",
"A bigger issue is only being able to choose from 8 teams to play with.",
"At least give gamers the ability to load more teams from separate profiles to increase the choices!",
"This limitation is bad enough in the first release, and will be unacceptable in all future releases.",
"This is 2K's first year back in football gaming in a few years, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt this year, giving them some time to work out the many missing options.",
"Despite the disappointments, the bottom line is that this is a very fun football game.",
"However if 2K wants to continue to produce this series and have \"success\" with it, they will really have to bring it in the future.",
"I desperately wanted to give this game 4 stars, but my conscious won't allow it.",
"I'll put it this way, if you are an offline player like me, this game gets 3.",
"5, if I was primarily an online player, then the lack of feature in offline wouldn't bother me so it would get a four at least.",
"In either case, it gets a perfect 5 for fun.",
"All that said, welcome back 2K!",
"It's about time we have a choice in football gaming again!",
"Let's just hope EA doesn't figure out how to license the sport of football itself so they can take the easy punk way out again by buying their way out of competition."
] |
I feel so hypnotically enchanted floating through endless rings as Superman with the distant soaring effects peacefully sounding in the background. For the first few minutes Superman seems challenging as an early 3D experiment to figure out which ideas work and which ones can be tossed aside and... you'd certainly *think* that floating through ring after ring would get boring after a while but... the opposite happens. You get unusually attached to the endless task.
After a while these floating rings just seem to call my name. It's like I'm destined to fly through them for all eternity. I don't want to do anything else in life but fly through these hypnotic rings. Sometimes I bump into bad guys and shoulder bash them away, other times I pick up items and toss them at specific targets but... the rings. They always call me back for several minutes of peaceful daydreaming hypnotism at its purest. I'm enthralled in this games beauty. The graphics are decent too. I have to go now. The rings are waiting for me. *stares off into space* | 1 | neutral | [
"I feel so hypnotically enchanted floating through endless rings as Superman with the distant soaring effects peacefully sounding in the background.",
"For the first few minutes Superman seems challenging as an early 3D experiment to figure out which ideas work and which ones can be tossed aside and...",
"you'd certainly *think* that floating through ring after ring would get boring after a while but...",
"the opposite happens.",
"You get unusually attached to the endless task.",
"After a while these floating rings just seem to call my name.",
"It's like I'm destined to fly through them for all eternity.",
"I don't want to do anything else in life but fly through these hypnotic rings.",
"Sometimes I bump into bad guys and shoulder bash them away, other times I pick up items and toss them at specific targets but...",
"the rings.",
"They always call me back for several minutes of peaceful daydreaming hypnotism at its purest.",
"I'm enthralled in this games beauty.",
"The graphics are decent too.",
"I have to go now.",
"The rings are waiting for me.",
"*stares off into space*"
] |
Just kidding, I think that's obvious. This 1991 release is Cannibal Corpse's second album, coming right after their brutal debut "Eaten Back to Life". In my opinion, "Butchered" doesn't really improve or expand on Corpse's sound the way that the following "Tomb of the Mutilated" (their masterpiece) or "The Bleeding" did. That said, "Butchered" is still a required listen, especially for fans of the band. This albums seems to be more a practice in relentless speed and brutal delivery. I know what you're thinking - "all their albums are like that." - but I think "Butchered" is more so because it doesn't have the variation in tempo, chords, and even vocals that the other three Chris Barnes era albums have. "Butchered" has a problem with several songs running into each other and would require several listens to pick them apart. Again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing and those who care will end up knowing them when they hear them. In terms of vocals, Barnes' growl started to become much more gutteral and was a sign of the inhumanly low levels he would achieve on "Tomb". Then "The Bleeding" came out and many fans got want they were wanting - you could actually make out some of the things Barnes was saying and he also developed a new high pitched (for him) monster squeal (something he sort of started on "Tomb", but still different). In terms of the band, they get tighter and faster with each album. The drummer's machine-like speed is on display here, but still not the performance of "Tomb". The same can be said for the guitarists and bassist (who really gets to show some of his capabilities on "Tomb"). So I can recommend "Butchered at Birth", but fans will benefit from it more. If you're to buy one album only then I would say go for "Tomb of the Mutilated" which has the most popular song and for good reason - "Hammer Smashed Face". I haven't really said much about the controversial lyrics and album cover, but that is because I don't think it's that important. If Cannibal Corpse's sound wasn't interesting to me and all they had was outrageous album covers then I wouldn't bother to write this review. I'm not surprised that people are offended by this album cover, but I am surprised that anyone with any sense would blame this or any other band/album cover for the violence in our society. Talk about "growing up". I think whoever thinks that this band or any other has that much power should read a book or something. If you think that out of all the injustices and evils in this world the thing that makes people violent is the music they listen to then you have a lot of learning and experiences to have. Then again, maybe these individuals who hate Cannibal Corpse so much should keep on writing hateful reviews because that's what the band was going for and it only helps record sales - so keep up the good work. | 1 | neutral | [
"Just kidding, I think that's obvious.",
"This 1991 release is Cannibal Corpse's second album, coming right after their brutal debut \"Eaten Back to Life\".",
"In my opinion, \"Butchered\" doesn't really improve or expand on Corpse's sound the way that the following \"Tomb of the Mutilated\" (their masterpiece) or \"The Bleeding\" did.",
"That said, \"Butchered\" is still a required listen, especially for fans of the band.",
"This albums seems to be more a practice in relentless speed and brutal delivery.",
"I know what you're thinking - \"all their albums are like that.",
"\" - but I think \"Butchered\" is more so because it doesn't have the variation in tempo, chords, and even vocals that the other three Chris Barnes era albums have.",
"\"Butchered\" has a problem with several songs running into each other and would require several listens to pick them apart.",
"Again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing and those who care will end up knowing them when they hear them.",
"In terms of vocals, Barnes' growl started to become much more gutteral and was a sign of the inhumanly low levels he would achieve on \"Tomb\".",
"Then \"The Bleeding\" came out and many fans got want they were wanting - you could actually make out some of the things Barnes was saying and he also developed a new high pitched (for him) monster squeal (something he sort of started on \"Tomb\", but still different).",
"In terms of the band, they get tighter and faster with each album.",
"The drummer's machine-like speed is on display here, but still not the performance of \"Tomb\".",
"The same can be said for the guitarists and bassist (who really gets to show some of his capabilities on \"Tomb\").",
"So I can recommend \"Butchered at Birth\", but fans will benefit from it more.",
"If you're to buy one album only then I would say go for \"Tomb of the Mutilated\" which has the most popular song and for good reason - \"Hammer Smashed Face\".",
"I haven't really said much about the controversial lyrics and album cover, but that is because I don't think it's that important.",
"If Cannibal Corpse's sound wasn't interesting to me and all they had was outrageous album covers then I wouldn't bother to write this review.",
"I'm not surprised that people are offended by this album cover, but I am surprised that anyone with any sense would blame this or any other band/album cover for the violence in our society.",
"Talk about \"growing up\".",
"I think whoever thinks that this band or any other has that much power should read a book or something.",
"If you think that out of all the injustices and evils in this world the thing that makes people violent is the music they listen to then you have a lot of learning and experiences to have.",
"Then again, maybe these individuals who hate Cannibal Corpse so much should keep on writing hateful reviews because that's what the band was going for and it only helps record sales - so keep up the good work."
] |
I ordered this previously from Amazon many years ago, and that worked like a champ. I ordered a second one for a friend, with not so good results... Fired it up for the first time to boil a ham and couldn't get the flame adjusted. Had to keep using it until the ham was cooked. What a mess with the soot on the pot. Disassembly and inspection revealed that the burner was internally clogged with casting sand, and the sand had been painted over with silver paint. The pressure from the propane was enough to blast a small opening in the sand to allow it to light, but it wasn't big enough to allow a good propane/air mixture. After scraping out the sand, it worked perfectly.
If somebody who wasn't familiar with how these things worked were to run into this, they wouldn't recognize what the inside of the burner is *supposed* to look like. The silver paint camouflaged the sand and made it look like a casting defect.
I would still recommend this burner, but Bayou Classic should inspect the burners a little closer. I would also recommend they fire them up for a couple of seconds before final assembly. | 1 | neutral | [
"I ordered this previously from Amazon many years ago, and that worked like a champ.",
"I ordered a second one for a friend, with not so good results...",
"Fired it up for the first time to boil a ham and couldn't get the flame adjusted.",
"Had to keep using it until the ham was cooked.",
"What a mess with the soot on the pot.",
"Disassembly and inspection revealed that the burner was internally clogged with casting sand, and the sand had been painted over with silver paint.",
"The pressure from the propane was enough to blast a small opening in the sand to allow it to light, but it wasn't big enough to allow a good propane/air mixture.",
"After scraping out the sand, it worked perfectly.",
"If somebody who wasn't familiar with how these things worked were to run into this, they wouldn't recognize what the inside of the burner is *supposed* to look like.",
"The silver paint camouflaged the sand and made it look like a casting defect.",
"I would still recommend this burner, but Bayou Classic should inspect the burners a little closer.",
"I would also recommend they fire them up for a couple of seconds before final assembly."
] |
This game wasn't that bad at all. It's more like a new rendition of the pld CAPCOM side scroller game, FINAL FIGHT. It plays similar to that. It uses the full scale 3-D view and it has a lot more pick up items and the action is very good and it's a great team game.
The only reason I'm not really crazy about this game is because it is really long. A friend and I played this game for entire weekend once and we still weren't done with the game. It's not as long as RAMPAGE UNIVERSAL TOUR but I assure you, it was starting to feel like it after a while. At least the really cool weapons and other cool items that you could use during the game made up for it.
I'd have to say rent this one first, just to be sure you're going to be feeling it later because like I said, the game is kinda long. I still think it's fun but for gamers that are just looking for a quick fighting buzz, this might not be for you. | 1 | neutral | [
"This game wasn't that bad at all.",
"It's more like a new rendition of the pld CAPCOM side scroller game, FINAL FIGHT.",
"It plays similar to that.",
"It uses the full scale 3-D view and it has a lot more pick up items and the action is very good and it's a great team game.",
"The only reason I'm not really crazy about this game is because it is really long.",
"A friend and I played this game for entire weekend once and we still weren't done with the game.",
"It's not as long as RAMPAGE UNIVERSAL TOUR but I assure you, it was starting to feel like it after a while.",
"At least the really cool weapons and other cool items that you could use during the game made up for it.",
"I'd have to say rent this one first, just to be sure you're going to be feeling it later because like I said, the game is kinda long.",
"I still think it's fun but for gamers that are just looking for a quick fighting buzz, this might not be for you."
] |
Note: I saw this movie with XFinity On Demand.
Hitchcock's fifty-fourth, and what would unfortunately be his last, film (he was planning to direct another one when he died) is an intriguing movie that, as I guessed from the title, involves a tombstone...and that is all I will say regarding the synopsis of the picture. Brilliant decision by The Master to have the blonde woman not say a single word for about five-to-ten minutes when she is first on screen (reminds me of the first 15 minutes of The Good The Bad And The Ugly). The actors here do a good job, especially Mr. Devane and Ms. Black. Spot-on.
Good score by John Williams (who had recently written a certain theme for a certain movie about a great white shark which also catapaulted a certain director to fame).
I give the film three stars because of the frequent pairing of God's name with a mild profanity, thereby making it into a strong-and irreverent-profanity. "Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain."
Rated PG (mild-to-strong profanity throughout and some violence), but I'd give it a PG-13 for the frequent religious profanity. | 1 | neutral | [
"Note: I saw this movie with XFinity On Demand.",
"Hitchcock's fifty-fourth, and what would unfortunately be his last, film (he was planning to direct another one when he died) is an intriguing movie that, as I guessed from the title, involves a tombstone...",
"and that is all I will say regarding the synopsis of the picture.",
"Brilliant decision by The Master to have the blonde woman not say a single word for about five-to-ten minutes when she is first on screen (reminds me of the first 15 minutes of The Good The Bad And The Ugly).",
"The actors here do a good job, especially Mr.",
"Devane and Ms.",
"Black.",
"Spot-on.",
"Good score by John Williams (who had recently written a certain theme for a certain movie about a great white shark which also catapaulted a certain director to fame).",
"I give the film three stars because of the frequent pairing of God's name with a mild profanity, thereby making it into a strong-and irreverent-profanity.",
"\"Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.",
"\"\n\nRated PG (mild-to-strong profanity throughout and some violence), but I'd give it a PG-13 for the frequent religious profanity."
] |
There is one major caveat to the use of this product that all potential buyers should be aware of. You MUST have at least 1.3 ft or so between the front of your vehicle and where the unit is mounted. It will not be able to register closer than this distance. If you're purchasing this b/c of a "tight" garage, this could be an issue, as it is for me.
This seems a little silly, but I thought the point of this unit was to help you park close to the front wall in a tight garage but not bump the wall. However, the instructions clearly state that the range is 1.3 to 16 feet. "We recommend that you never leave less than 1.3 feet between your bumper and the wall." This, of course, is kind of ridiculous since if I had 1.3 ft between the front of my car and the front wall, I wouldn't need a parking assist device. When properly parked, my garage allows approximately 4" of clearance front and rear in total (e.g., 2" up front, 2" in rear if centered). Thus, I have .25 ft. The unit simply flashes red about 1.5ft before I get pulled into the proper position and then goes off.
This may be fine if you have lots of room in your garage and need to park in a very particular position among the piles of stuff, but if you have a particularly tight garage, it may not serve your needs. | 1 | neutral | [
"There is one major caveat to the use of this product that all potential buyers should be aware of.",
"You MUST have at least 1.",
"3 ft or so between the front of your vehicle and where the unit is mounted.",
"It will not be able to register closer than this distance.",
"If you're purchasing this b/c of a \"tight\" garage, this could be an issue, as it is for me.",
"This seems a little silly, but I thought the point of this unit was to help you park close to the front wall in a tight garage but not bump the wall.",
"However, the instructions clearly state that the range is 1.",
"3 to 16 feet.",
"\"We recommend that you never leave less than 1.",
"3 feet between your bumper and the wall.",
"\" This, of course, is kind of ridiculous since if I had 1.",
"3 ft between the front of my car and the front wall, I wouldn't need a parking assist device.",
"When properly parked, my garage allows approximately 4\" of clearance front and rear in total (e.",
"g., 2\" up front, 2\" in rear if centered).",
"Thus, I have.",
"25 ft.",
"The unit simply flashes red about 1.",
"5ft before I get pulled into the proper position and then goes off.",
"This may be fine if you have lots of room in your garage and need to park in a very particular position among the piles of stuff, but if you have a particularly tight garage, it may not serve your needs."
] |
Being a pirate is hard work. You sail around avoiding capture, getting into brutal sword fights with hundreds of other pirates and nasty beasties, and you also have to around saving pirate lords, getting into duels with them, etc. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End allows you try out the life of a pirate yourself, but the question is...is a pirate's life really for me?
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (POTC: AWE)is a liscenced video game based on the film of the same name, and like so many other movie video games, it is a beat-'em-up brawler that has you going down fairly linear paths while cutting down hundreds of enemy pirates, British soldiers, fish-men, etc. while being graded on how well you do so you can become more nortorious...or something like that. Gameplay consists of running around and slicing your foes to pieces while trying to stay alive.
Although the box title may say, "At world's end", POTC: AWE really covers the second and third films from the 'Pirates' trilogy. You begin in that creepy prison that Jack escaped from in 'Dead Man's Chest', except that you get to find out exactly what he did to escape. Afterwards, you'll reply the events from the film, going to Tortuga, Isla Cruces, fighting the Flying Dutchman, and eventually taking on the fearsome Kracken. After that, the game then switches to telling the events from the third film, only without huge amounts of talking and a lot more action. You'll go to Singapore, visit Davey Jones's locker, and eventually engage in the final battle on the edge of the enormous whirlpool. While going through the missions, you'll quickly notice that the story of the films has been redone in a faster pace then the films, along with taking some liberties for the storyline. The biggest change is that Jack is, in addition to seeking out the heart of Davey Jones, trying to find all the pirate lords that will eventually meet up near the end of the third film. So for most of the events of 'Dead Man's chest', you'll be finding the pirate lords as often as you'll be looking how to stop Davey Jones. I like this idea because it really helps tie the storylines from film two to film three together and makes them feel like a very good build up to a big finale. In addition to retelling the story, the game also makes some changes to locales seen in the films. Davey Jones's locker is now filled with the remains of dozens of sunken ships, as well as bones of giant animals (and we get to see the locker's hellish side, which wasn't in the film), and roaming around shipwreck city is amazing, due to the sheer number of wrecks all mashed together.
Levels are for the most part, very simple. You start from Point A and have to get to point B, though half the time you often go back to point A after getting to B. Levels are, in general, linear, but more often then not there are occasional side paths you can take to help mix things up and see different locales. Usually it's quite simple to figure out where you're going and what you're doing.
Like so many other games of this type, POTC: AWE is a standard fighting game and it gets the job done. There's really nothing wrong with it's combat system, in that it's easy to get the hang of, that there are just about the right amount of combat moves to pull off, etc. While fighting your way through the levels, you'll usually be taking on three foes at once. And while Jack (and the other characters you play) can take a fair amount of damage, they can still fall quickly if you aren't careful. One thing that distinguishes POT: AWE is that you MUST learn how to block enemy attacks if you are going to survive. Your foes here won't hesitate to attack you if your back is turned and will quickly gang up on you. Yet even then you also have to master fighting back, because of a rather innovative blocking system. You can only block enemy attacks so many times before your ability to do so is temporarily depleted, as each blow knocks away at your ability to block. You have to go on the offensive or avoid combat for your ability to go back up, which is a nice twist that allows for a good balance between defensive and offensive fighting. In addition to the innovate use of blocking and attacking, there are only four combo attacks in the game. While some may think that's a very small amount, I find it refreshing, as I don't have to memorize upwards of thirty attacks when trying to hold off several fish men who want to chop me to pieces. Furthermore, you also have some additional weapons at your disposal, such as throwing knives, pistols, and grenades (not modern ones mind you) to help out in combat. While using them isn't required, it's a nice touch that helps make sure the game isn't just pure swordplay. For being a standard hack-em-up game, POTC: AWE does a good job at living up to it's style of play.
In addition to the combat, POTC: AWE offers some additional diversions when roaming around the levels. You can often find NPCs to talk to, most of whom will give you a task or a favor to ask of you, which you can choose to accept or not. Some of these tasks range from finding lost husbands to distracting bar owners while rum is snuck out from under their noses. In an nice touch, you can also sometimes make choices within choices, such as with the bar owner. You can agree to distract him, but then proceed to tell him that someone is planning to rob his rum, upon which he'll thank you for your goodness and reward you with some money (and in the world of pirates, money is always good!). But if you're not careful, you could run into those thugs later, and they won't be happy. In addition, there are also some card and dice playing mini-games that you can try out, but they are completely optional and not required to complete the game (which is good, because I personally stink at playing card games).
In addition to these side quests, you also have the chance to participate in what the game calls "Jackinisms". These are timed sequences where you have to press a button at the correct moment in order to advance, usually through some crazy, zany sequence that showcases Jack Sparrow's cleverness. Unfortunitly, these sequences aren't very enjoyable, mostly due to the fact that the game is notoriously unforgiving in timing. You only have one chance to do the sequence right, because if you make even one mistake, you fail and don't get another chance (unless you replay the level). At times you have only a half second to press the displayed button while other times you get a second. This inconsistency leads one to dread each sequence because you don't know if your reflexes will be razor sharp to keep up with the displayed buttons (and in a sad twist, your eyes will be fixated on the corner of the screen that displays the buttons, rather then watching the sequence being played out in front of you).
And if that wasn't enough, the game also offers an incredible amount of unlockable content for you to get. Some of these include extra characters, swords, etc. that you get to use when replaying the game. This is one of my favorite features of POTC: AWE, because all the characters you unlock are playable in the main story missions, which can lead to some very funny and amusing "What if?" scenarios, such as what would would happen if Sao Feng went toe to toe with the Kraken, if Governor Weatherby Swann took on Davey Jones in one on one combat, if Davey Jones personally stepped foot on Isla Cruces to retrieve his heart, etc. Almost every character from the films is here and playable, including Davey Jones himself (my personal favorite character). And in one amazingly awesome touch, each character is in every cutscene in the game. So if you're playing as Davey Jones instead of Jack Sparrow, you'll see Jones acting out what Sparrow did, whether it be looking at his compass, paddling around in a coffin and even getting spanked by women, all of which are surreally funny.
With all these features, POTC: AWE sounds to be a fantastic game and it is...in short spurts. Unfortunitly, even with all the work that went into the game and the efforts made to vary it, the essential core of the game is the same: Run around and slice everyone to pieces. You'll do this in the first level and continue doing it until the very last. You fight other enemies, three at a time, until they are dead, then repeat. The first time you play through the game, this isn't an issue, but replaying levels reveals this issue. While a level may be fun and enjoyable the first time through, it isn't as fun the second time around due to the fact that you know what's going to happen, that you're just going to go from area to area fighting many enemies in the same fashion. Because of this, POTC: AWE is best played in short bursts, rather then in long sittings.
If there are other issues in the game, it would be in the story and the way it's told. While the outcomes are the same for movies 2 and 3, the way we get there is not very well told. When you begin the game, there's a cutscene of Jack waking up in a cell, then the scene ends and you're in a prison with no explanation of how you got there. Most cutscenes are very short and move at breakneck speed, making it feel rushed. It's a very good idea to know the plot of the films, otherwise you might be scratching your head while trying to figure things out. In the end, the storytelling of POTC: AWE could use a lot of work and touch-ups to improve it.
The only other quibble I have is in regards to your mission objectives. While the main goals are easy enough to follow, there are side missions in each level that you can undertake to unlock more unlockables. The problem arises in that you aren't told what these sub-missions are until the mission is over. Common sense says that it's a good idea to tell players what optional missions are available during the game, not after a mission has been finished.
But in the end, POTC: AWE is a fun, if repetitive, game that is definitely worth a rental. The graphics bounce around in terms of quality but are usually quite good, and the gameplay, despite it's shortcomings, is fun (but again, it's best in short bursts) But is the game worth a purchase? Personally, I'd say to wait until it is found for sale used, but it is at least worth a look, and definitely worth going through as a rental. | 1 | neutral | [
"Being a pirate is hard work.",
"You sail around avoiding capture, getting into brutal sword fights with hundreds of other pirates and nasty beasties, and you also have to around saving pirate lords, getting into duels with them, etc.",
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End allows you try out the life of a pirate yourself, but the question is...",
"is a pirate's life really for me?",
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (POTC: AWE)is a liscenced video game based on the film of the same name, and like so many other movie video games, it is a beat-'em-up brawler that has you going down fairly linear paths while cutting down hundreds of enemy pirates, British soldiers, fish-men, etc.",
"while being graded on how well you do so you can become more nortorious...",
"or something like that.",
"Gameplay consists of running around and slicing your foes to pieces while trying to stay alive.",
"Although the box title may say, \"At world's end\", POTC: AWE really covers the second and third films from the 'Pirates' trilogy.",
"You begin in that creepy prison that Jack escaped from in 'Dead Man's Chest', except that you get to find out exactly what he did to escape.",
"Afterwards, you'll reply the events from the film, going to Tortuga, Isla Cruces, fighting the Flying Dutchman, and eventually taking on the fearsome Kracken.",
"After that, the game then switches to telling the events from the third film, only without huge amounts of talking and a lot more action.",
"You'll go to Singapore, visit Davey Jones's locker, and eventually engage in the final battle on the edge of the enormous whirlpool.",
"While going through the missions, you'll quickly notice that the story of the films has been redone in a faster pace then the films, along with taking some liberties for the storyline.",
"The biggest change is that Jack is, in addition to seeking out the heart of Davey Jones, trying to find all the pirate lords that will eventually meet up near the end of the third film.",
"So for most of the events of 'Dead Man's chest', you'll be finding the pirate lords as often as you'll be looking how to stop Davey Jones.",
"I like this idea because it really helps tie the storylines from film two to film three together and makes them feel like a very good build up to a big finale.",
"In addition to retelling the story, the game also makes some changes to locales seen in the films.",
"Davey Jones's locker is now filled with the remains of dozens of sunken ships, as well as bones of giant animals (and we get to see the locker's hellish side, which wasn't in the film), and roaming around shipwreck city is amazing, due to the sheer number of wrecks all mashed together.",
"Levels are for the most part, very simple.",
"You start from Point A and have to get to point B, though half the time you often go back to point A after getting to B.",
"Levels are, in general, linear, but more often then not there are occasional side paths you can take to help mix things up and see different locales.",
"Usually it's quite simple to figure out where you're going and what you're doing.",
"Like so many other games of this type, POTC: AWE is a standard fighting game and it gets the job done.",
"There's really nothing wrong with it's combat system, in that it's easy to get the hang of, that there are just about the right amount of combat moves to pull off, etc.",
"While fighting your way through the levels, you'll usually be taking on three foes at once.",
"And while Jack (and the other characters you play) can take a fair amount of damage, they can still fall quickly if you aren't careful.",
"One thing that distinguishes POT: AWE is that you MUST learn how to block enemy attacks if you are going to survive.",
"Your foes here won't hesitate to attack you if your back is turned and will quickly gang up on you.",
"Yet even then you also have to master fighting back, because of a rather innovative blocking system.",
"You can only block enemy attacks so many times before your ability to do so is temporarily depleted, as each blow knocks away at your ability to block.",
"You have to go on the offensive or avoid combat for your ability to go back up, which is a nice twist that allows for a good balance between defensive and offensive fighting.",
"In addition to the innovate use of blocking and attacking, there are only four combo attacks in the game.",
"While some may think that's a very small amount, I find it refreshing, as I don't have to memorize upwards of thirty attacks when trying to hold off several fish men who want to chop me to pieces.",
"Furthermore, you also have some additional weapons at your disposal, such as throwing knives, pistols, and grenades (not modern ones mind you) to help out in combat.",
"While using them isn't required, it's a nice touch that helps make sure the game isn't just pure swordplay.",
"For being a standard hack-em-up game, POTC: AWE does a good job at living up to it's style of play.",
"In addition to the combat, POTC: AWE offers some additional diversions when roaming around the levels.",
"You can often find NPCs to talk to, most of whom will give you a task or a favor to ask of you, which you can choose to accept or not.",
"Some of these tasks range from finding lost husbands to distracting bar owners while rum is snuck out from under their noses.",
"In an nice touch, you can also sometimes make choices within choices, such as with the bar owner.",
"You can agree to distract him, but then proceed to tell him that someone is planning to rob his rum, upon which he'll thank you for your goodness and reward you with some money (and in the world of pirates, money is always good!",
").",
"But if you're not careful, you could run into those thugs later, and they won't be happy.",
"In addition, there are also some card and dice playing mini-games that you can try out, but they are completely optional and not required to complete the game (which is good, because I personally stink at playing card games).",
"In addition to these side quests, you also have the chance to participate in what the game calls \"Jackinisms\".",
"These are timed sequences where you have to press a button at the correct moment in order to advance, usually through some crazy, zany sequence that showcases Jack Sparrow's cleverness.",
"Unfortunitly, these sequences aren't very enjoyable, mostly due to the fact that the game is notoriously unforgiving in timing.",
"You only have one chance to do the sequence right, because if you make even one mistake, you fail and don't get another chance (unless you replay the level).",
"At times you have only a half second to press the displayed button while other times you get a second.",
"This inconsistency leads one to dread each sequence because you don't know if your reflexes will be razor sharp to keep up with the displayed buttons (and in a sad twist, your eyes will be fixated on the corner of the screen that displays the buttons, rather then watching the sequence being played out in front of you).",
"And if that wasn't enough, the game also offers an incredible amount of unlockable content for you to get.",
"Some of these include extra characters, swords, etc.",
"that you get to use when replaying the game.",
"This is one of my favorite features of POTC: AWE, because all the characters you unlock are playable in the main story missions, which can lead to some very funny and amusing \"What if?",
"\" scenarios, such as what would would happen if Sao Feng went toe to toe with the Kraken, if Governor Weatherby Swann took on Davey Jones in one on one combat, if Davey Jones personally stepped foot on Isla Cruces to retrieve his heart, etc.",
"Almost every character from the films is here and playable, including Davey Jones himself (my personal favorite character).",
"And in one amazingly awesome touch, each character is in every cutscene in the game.",
"So if you're playing as Davey Jones instead of Jack Sparrow, you'll see Jones acting out what Sparrow did, whether it be looking at his compass, paddling around in a coffin and even getting spanked by women, all of which are surreally funny.",
"With all these features, POTC: AWE sounds to be a fantastic game and it is...",
"in short spurts.",
"Unfortunitly, even with all the work that went into the game and the efforts made to vary it, the essential core of the game is the same: Run around and slice everyone to pieces.",
"You'll do this in the first level and continue doing it until the very last.",
"You fight other enemies, three at a time, until they are dead, then repeat.",
"The first time you play through the game, this isn't an issue, but replaying levels reveals this issue.",
"While a level may be fun and enjoyable the first time through, it isn't as fun the second time around due to the fact that you know what's going to happen, that you're just going to go from area to area fighting many enemies in the same fashion.",
"Because of this, POTC: AWE is best played in short bursts, rather then in long sittings.",
"If there are other issues in the game, it would be in the story and the way it's told.",
"While the outcomes are the same for movies 2 and 3, the way we get there is not very well told.",
"When you begin the game, there's a cutscene of Jack waking up in a cell, then the scene ends and you're in a prison with no explanation of how you got there.",
"Most cutscenes are very short and move at breakneck speed, making it feel rushed.",
"It's a very good idea to know the plot of the films, otherwise you might be scratching your head while trying to figure things out.",
"In the end, the storytelling of POTC: AWE could use a lot of work and touch-ups to improve it.",
"The only other quibble I have is in regards to your mission objectives.",
"While the main goals are easy enough to follow, there are side missions in each level that you can undertake to unlock more unlockables.",
"The problem arises in that you aren't told what these sub-missions are until the mission is over.",
"Common sense says that it's a good idea to tell players what optional missions are available during the game, not after a mission has been finished.",
"But in the end, POTC: AWE is a fun, if repetitive, game that is definitely worth a rental.",
"The graphics bounce around in terms of quality but are usually quite good, and the gameplay, despite it's shortcomings, is fun (but again, it's best in short bursts) But is the game worth a purchase?",
"Personally, I'd say to wait until it is found for sale used, but it is at least worth a look, and definitely worth going through as a rental."
] |
The paint goes on thin, so several layers are required for an opaque look. This allows for experimentation: You can put it on more sheer for some projects, while doing several layers for an opaque gold on others. The layering required for an opaque look makes it easier to have a smooth finish.
The gold colour is sort of rough and dark; it is nowhere near the colour or feel of a golden ring or similar gold looks. It shines, but is not bright, and is more of an antique, unpolished look.
I use it sparingly and the paint seems to separate into the ingredients. Whenever I open it, there is a hard layer of paint on top, and green liquid around the walls. I stir it in, but then there are a few small chunks of paint from the hard layer. I think they eventually mix back in with the paint, but it happens over again anyway. For me, this isn't too much of a problem, since I do small projects; however, if you plan to do a bigger project, it's probably better to use it straight away. | 1 | neutral | [
"The paint goes on thin, so several layers are required for an opaque look.",
"This allows for experimentation: You can put it on more sheer for some projects, while doing several layers for an opaque gold on others.",
"The layering required for an opaque look makes it easier to have a smooth finish.",
"The gold colour is sort of rough and dark; it is nowhere near the colour or feel of a golden ring or similar gold looks.",
"It shines, but is not bright, and is more of an antique, unpolished look.",
"I use it sparingly and the paint seems to separate into the ingredients.",
"Whenever I open it, there is a hard layer of paint on top, and green liquid around the walls.",
"I stir it in, but then there are a few small chunks of paint from the hard layer.",
"I think they eventually mix back in with the paint, but it happens over again anyway.",
"For me, this isn't too much of a problem, since I do small projects; however, if you plan to do a bigger project, it's probably better to use it straight away."
] |
Let's get one thing straight: 451 degrees Fahrenheit is NOT the temperature at which paper burns, as Ray Bradbury readily admits - he just loved the look and sound of that title.
Perhaps taking such looseness as his inspiration, Truffaut's free-wheeling adaptation of Bradbury's classic novel is intriguing, but doesn't quite work. By conflating the Clarisse and Faber characters, it halves the exposition but it also halves the story's power. For me, Faber is the novel's central character, and without his insightful defense of literature and freedom we only get one side of the argument. No one explains why books are important, why they matter. So given that Montag only becomes violent after he starts reading, Truffaut's version comes dangerously close to supporting Captain Beatty's argument that an ignorant society is a safe one. It becomes less a story about censorship and "the forgetting of history" as a means of social control, and more about the repressed emotions that reading might unlock. While this does pick up on one of Bradbury's minor recurring themes (the importance of "the natural") it isn't "Fahrenheit 451". Moreover, the relentlessly miserable look of this film misses Bradbury's point. His dystopian future isn't grim on the surface: it's a hyper-real America of neat green lawns and porch-less houses, a facade of state-sanctioned happiness masking the horror within. Truffaut's just looks like East Germany.
Of course, adaptations don't have to be literal. The best ones are never a simple translation from page to screen, but a transposition from one register to another, making the film the occasion for a new imaginative experience without losing the qualities for which the novel is so loved. But Truffaut's film fails on that count. At the very least, an adaptation should be faithful to the spirit of its source, but Truffaut's fails there, too. He doesn't do the novel justice, nor give us anything better. It's even more disappointing because it lacks the style and skill which distinguish so many of Truffaut's other films (and I love many of them). So I'm left wondering why he bothered. If you don't respect the source material as anything more than a vague inspiration, why adapt it? Why not just write your own story about book burning and call it something else?
Adapting this novel isn't difficult. I wrote an adaptation of it as a college screenwriting assignment and found that if you stick with the book's characters and structure, it pretty much falls into place. Bradbury himself has said: "My books are movies already. Just take out the pages and stuff them in the camera." While that isn't quite true (there are huge slabs of melodramatic dialogue to be culled, and plenty of anachronisms to weed out), there is a lot to be said for faithful adaptations of his work, especially this one: there are few writers in sci-fi, or in any genre, who combine Bradbury's native talent for visual storytelling with such an intelligent and abiding interest in big themes.
"Fahrenheit 451" is crying out for a remake. The case it puts is resurgently relevant, and our digital technology makes screening its disturbing and beautiful images entirely possible, even easy. Frank Darabont is slated to write and direct a new version for Castle Rock sometime soon. The project has been delayed so many times now, I'm starting to get the impression he's waiting for Bradbury to die so he can butcher it with impunity. But Darabont has a good eye and a strong sense of story. If he can just resist his irritating tendency to "go Capra" and turn this into some kind of sappy, futuristic Norman Rockwell painting, I'm confident he'll pull it off. With its memorable characters, compelling plot and powerful themes, it has Oscar written all over it. I can see it now... Keanu Reeves or Colin Farrell as Montag (both of whom can portray strength and the requisite sensitivity), Anthony Hopkins as Faber, Robert De Niro as Captain Beatty (although I guarantee Darabont will cast James Whitmore and Jeffrey DeMunn respectively), music by John Williams (with a nod to Carl Orff), and cinematography by Dante Spinotti or Darius Khondji.... Oh, in the right hands, it's a cross-category winner just waiting to be born. | 1 | neutral | [
"Let's get one thing straight: 451 degrees Fahrenheit is NOT the temperature at which paper burns, as Ray Bradbury readily admits - he just loved the look and sound of that title.",
"Perhaps taking such looseness as his inspiration, Truffaut's free-wheeling adaptation of Bradbury's classic novel is intriguing, but doesn't quite work.",
"By conflating the Clarisse and Faber characters, it halves the exposition but it also halves the story's power.",
"For me, Faber is the novel's central character, and without his insightful defense of literature and freedom we only get one side of the argument.",
"No one explains why books are important, why they matter.",
"So given that Montag only becomes violent after he starts reading, Truffaut's version comes dangerously close to supporting Captain Beatty's argument that an ignorant society is a safe one.",
"It becomes less a story about censorship and \"the forgetting of history\" as a means of social control, and more about the repressed emotions that reading might unlock.",
"While this does pick up on one of Bradbury's minor recurring themes (the importance of \"the natural\") it isn't \"Fahrenheit 451\".",
"Moreover, the relentlessly miserable look of this film misses Bradbury's point.",
"His dystopian future isn't grim on the surface: it's a hyper-real America of neat green lawns and porch-less houses, a facade of state-sanctioned happiness masking the horror within.",
"Truffaut's just looks like East Germany.",
"Of course, adaptations don't have to be literal.",
"The best ones are never a simple translation from page to screen, but a transposition from one register to another, making the film the occasion for a new imaginative experience without losing the qualities for which the novel is so loved.",
"But Truffaut's film fails on that count.",
"At the very least, an adaptation should be faithful to the spirit of its source, but Truffaut's fails there, too.",
"He doesn't do the novel justice, nor give us anything better.",
"It's even more disappointing because it lacks the style and skill which distinguish so many of Truffaut's other films (and I love many of them).",
"So I'm left wondering why he bothered.",
"If you don't respect the source material as anything more than a vague inspiration, why adapt it?",
"Why not just write your own story about book burning and call it something else?",
"Adapting this novel isn't difficult.",
"I wrote an adaptation of it as a college screenwriting assignment and found that if you stick with the book's characters and structure, it pretty much falls into place.",
"Bradbury himself has said: \"My books are movies already.",
"Just take out the pages and stuff them in the camera.",
"\" While that isn't quite true (there are huge slabs of melodramatic dialogue to be culled, and plenty of anachronisms to weed out), there is a lot to be said for faithful adaptations of his work, especially this one: there are few writers in sci-fi, or in any genre, who combine Bradbury's native talent for visual storytelling with such an intelligent and abiding interest in big themes.",
"\"Fahrenheit 451\" is crying out for a remake.",
"The case it puts is resurgently relevant, and our digital technology makes screening its disturbing and beautiful images entirely possible, even easy.",
"Frank Darabont is slated to write and direct a new version for Castle Rock sometime soon.",
"The project has been delayed so many times now, I'm starting to get the impression he's waiting for Bradbury to die so he can butcher it with impunity.",
"But Darabont has a good eye and a strong sense of story.",
"If he can just resist his irritating tendency to \"go Capra\" and turn this into some kind of sappy, futuristic Norman Rockwell painting, I'm confident he'll pull it off.",
"With its memorable characters, compelling plot and powerful themes, it has Oscar written all over it.",
"I can see it now...",
"Keanu Reeves or Colin Farrell as Montag (both of whom can portray strength and the requisite sensitivity), Anthony Hopkins as Faber, Robert De Niro as Captain Beatty (although I guarantee Darabont will cast James Whitmore and Jeffrey DeMunn respectively), music by John Williams (with a nod to Carl Orff), and cinematography by Dante Spinotti or Darius Khondji....",
"Oh, in the right hands, it's a cross-category winner just waiting to be born."
] |
I've had two pair of Pro-4AAs in the past ten years or so. My first pair belonged to my dad and were used by him for technical purposes. I'd been using them for music and I assumed that the Pro-4AAs had the best, cleanest, most accurate sound. I've since learned that the best, cleanest and most accurate sound probably doesn't exist, and even if it does, you won't get it with these headphones.
Don't get me wrong here. On my rating scale, a 3 is pretty good; think of it as one standard deviation above average. I definitely wouldn't call these cans bad, but they are seriously flawed. They are *very* heavy--uncomfortably so. Wearing these headphones for an hour caused serious pain for my ears, neck and scalp. Two hours wearing them gave me a headache for the rest of the night.
As for the sound... I got the distinct impression that their sound reproduction quality and accuracy was excellent, but the sound from any source for any kind of music felt intensely confined. These are the most closed headphones I've ever used. Because they are so tightly sealed by such heavy material, you *will* get some serious bouncing, so don't expect a soundstage larger than the inside of your skull. The general effect is crowding, claustrophobic and at high volume, overwhelming.
For some kinds of music (dense, droning, broad range of tones--my examples are Nadja and Jesu) these cans actually add to the effect. For other music (lighter, more empty space--essentially anything made before 1975 and most music made since) the closed design of these headphones condenses and "cheapens" the sound, collapsing some music into an unsubtle mono mush.
On the plus side, these phones are amazingly well-built. There is a lot of substantial metal involved and any plastic parts are made from the highest quality, super strong types--no cheap, brittle plastic here, just dense and flexible. The coiled cord is a godsend and more or less indestructible. The only structural weakspots I could find are the holes where the wires enter each headphone. I once dropped my second pair far enough to actually loosen one of the wires, resulting in the right channel cutting out intermittently, but with the shockingly generous warranty plan offered by Koss, I mailed my pair in and received the same pair, fixed in a few days. Quality-wise, these phones easily outstrip any model in the same price range and many models that are more geared for serious music listening (my chintzy, but liquid butter-sounding Grados come to mind).
Overall, this review's title says it all: like a suit of armor, these headphones are powerful, but have limited uses. If you absolutely need noise attenuation without active cancellation, no sound gets in or out of these headphones, period. But if you really want to get lost in your music, try an open design--you can get lost in the sound the Pro-4AAs provide, but you'll be running around a pretty small block. | 1 | neutral | [
"I've had two pair of Pro-4AAs in the past ten years or so.",
"My first pair belonged to my dad and were used by him for technical purposes.",
"I'd been using them for music and I assumed that the Pro-4AAs had the best, cleanest, most accurate sound.",
"I've since learned that the best, cleanest and most accurate sound probably doesn't exist, and even if it does, you won't get it with these headphones.",
"Don't get me wrong here.",
"On my rating scale, a 3 is pretty good; think of it as one standard deviation above average.",
"I definitely wouldn't call these cans bad, but they are seriously flawed.",
"They are *very* heavy--uncomfortably so.",
"Wearing these headphones for an hour caused serious pain for my ears, neck and scalp.",
"Two hours wearing them gave me a headache for the rest of the night.",
"As for the sound...",
"I got the distinct impression that their sound reproduction quality and accuracy was excellent, but the sound from any source for any kind of music felt intensely confined.",
"These are the most closed headphones I've ever used.",
"Because they are so tightly sealed by such heavy material, you *will* get some serious bouncing, so don't expect a soundstage larger than the inside of your skull.",
"The general effect is crowding, claustrophobic and at high volume, overwhelming.",
"For some kinds of music (dense, droning, broad range of tones--my examples are Nadja and Jesu) these cans actually add to the effect.",
"For other music (lighter, more empty space--essentially anything made before 1975 and most music made since) the closed design of these headphones condenses and \"cheapens\" the sound, collapsing some music into an unsubtle mono mush.",
"On the plus side, these phones are amazingly well-built.",
"There is a lot of substantial metal involved and any plastic parts are made from the highest quality, super strong types--no cheap, brittle plastic here, just dense and flexible.",
"The coiled cord is a godsend and more or less indestructible.",
"The only structural weakspots I could find are the holes where the wires enter each headphone.",
"I once dropped my second pair far enough to actually loosen one of the wires, resulting in the right channel cutting out intermittently, but with the shockingly generous warranty plan offered by Koss, I mailed my pair in and received the same pair, fixed in a few days.",
"Quality-wise, these phones easily outstrip any model in the same price range and many models that are more geared for serious music listening (my chintzy, but liquid butter-sounding Grados come to mind).",
"Overall, this review's title says it all: like a suit of armor, these headphones are powerful, but have limited uses.",
"If you absolutely need noise attenuation without active cancellation, no sound gets in or out of these headphones, period.",
"But if you really want to get lost in your music, try an open design--you can get lost in the sound the Pro-4AAs provide, but you'll be running around a pretty small block."
] |
I've been using this product for about a week. It smells nice and is a thick creamy "extreme cream." I generally use Nivea and have no problems with that. My skin in winter gets dry and literally soaks up the thickest and greasiest of creams. I love the way this goes on and the way it feels. Unfortunately though it made my skin break out so I had to discontinue use. I think for someone who is not sensitive to it--it would be a great "extreme cream" for cold weather. Not sure I'd use it in the summer as it is pretty heavy duty. I was really disappointed when my skin started erupting and I'm not sure what ingredient caused it. I've used many skin creams and occasionally one doesn't agree with my skin and unfortunately this was one of them :(. | 1 | neutral | [
"I've been using this product for about a week.",
"It smells nice and is a thick creamy \"extreme cream.",
"\" I generally use Nivea and have no problems with that.",
"My skin in winter gets dry and literally soaks up the thickest and greasiest of creams.",
"I love the way this goes on and the way it feels.",
"Unfortunately though it made my skin break out so I had to discontinue use.",
"I think for someone who is not sensitive to it--it would be a great \"extreme cream\" for cold weather.",
"Not sure I'd use it in the summer as it is pretty heavy duty.",
"I was really disappointed when my skin started erupting and I'm not sure what ingredient caused it.",
"I've used many skin creams and occasionally one doesn't agree with my skin and unfortunately this was one of them :(."
] |
The Lipton Natural Energy, 40 Count comes in a fancier than usual Lipton packaging, so it may be used as a gift of sorts. Inside there are two sealed sets of 20 tea bags. The tea bags are not individually sealed. They are stored inside a tray which goes inside the outer golden wrapper. Both the wrappers and the outside box have a gold and yellow and sun color theme, which add to their fancier than usual look. On the practical front, the outer box has two little flaps on the front side that turn it into a self-locking package. On one of the sides of the outer box, there is a semi-coded "best if used by" date. Semi-coded because it says (I think): "DEC3114SQ0". It translates to Dec 31st in 2014 I think, but why can't they write the dates in plain english?
The good news is that there is only black tea and no other iffy ingredients. The active ingredients are 75mg caffeine and 20mg theanine per 8oz serving (one tea bag). There are all zeros in the standard RDA nutritional label (no calories, no sodium, no carbs, etc).
With winter here, I only drank this hot. The taste is a bit on the strong black tea side, but it's not a surprise. It's a black tea with more caffeine than usual. All my attempts to mix-master it by blending it with other teas (herbals) ended up with this one overwhelming the flavor and burying the other teas. It's not a bad taste, but some people may prefer a more subdued flavor.
Despite the increased caffeine content, I did not feel any different than drinking my usual black teas and black tea blends and green teas. I did not get the same kick as I get from coffee, even though the caffeine content is closer than other teas.
One pet peeve of mine that lands this tea squarely in the dog house and "eats" one of its stars is that each tea bag has not one but TWO tiny staples. One staple holds the tea bag closed and the other attaches the paper holder to the string. Come on, can we please stop putting staples in tea bags? Other Lipton teas don't use staples, so it's not like Lipton has yet to develop no-staples tea-holding technology! Why waste material and why introduce the risk of accidentally drinking the staples? | 1 | neutral | [
"The Lipton Natural Energy, 40 Count comes in a fancier than usual Lipton packaging, so it may be used as a gift of sorts.",
"Inside there are two sealed sets of 20 tea bags.",
"The tea bags are not individually sealed.",
"They are stored inside a tray which goes inside the outer golden wrapper.",
"Both the wrappers and the outside box have a gold and yellow and sun color theme, which add to their fancier than usual look.",
"On the practical front, the outer box has two little flaps on the front side that turn it into a self-locking package.",
"On one of the sides of the outer box, there is a semi-coded \"best if used by\" date.",
"Semi-coded because it says (I think): \"DEC3114SQ0\".",
"It translates to Dec 31st in 2014 I think, but why can't they write the dates in plain english?",
"The good news is that there is only black tea and no other iffy ingredients.",
"The active ingredients are 75mg caffeine and 20mg theanine per 8oz serving (one tea bag).",
"There are all zeros in the standard RDA nutritional label (no calories, no sodium, no carbs, etc).",
"With winter here, I only drank this hot.",
"The taste is a bit on the strong black tea side, but it's not a surprise.",
"It's a black tea with more caffeine than usual.",
"All my attempts to mix-master it by blending it with other teas (herbals) ended up with this one overwhelming the flavor and burying the other teas.",
"It's not a bad taste, but some people may prefer a more subdued flavor.",
"Despite the increased caffeine content, I did not feel any different than drinking my usual black teas and black tea blends and green teas.",
"I did not get the same kick as I get from coffee, even though the caffeine content is closer than other teas.",
"One pet peeve of mine that lands this tea squarely in the dog house and \"eats\" one of its stars is that each tea bag has not one but TWO tiny staples.",
"One staple holds the tea bag closed and the other attaches the paper holder to the string.",
"Come on, can we please stop putting staples in tea bags?",
"Other Lipton teas don't use staples, so it's not like Lipton has yet to develop no-staples tea-holding technology!",
"Why waste material and why introduce the risk of accidentally drinking the staples?"
] |
Defenately not the best Mortal Kombat game. Although not pityfully awful like stated in other reviews, the game isn't extremely fun. I spent hours tring to beat the game, and when I finally did I was very diapointed. The graphics weren't bad, at least not too much. The story of the game (isn't great either).
But, it's the link that shows what went on between the Shao Kahn tournaments and Mortal Kombat 4. However, the game plot also contradicts few things to the typical Mortal Kombat legacy. For example, aren't the four elemental gods supposed to be good? Then why are they on the bad guy's side? So in the end, the game is somewhat fun, and long lasting, but is it really worth your money, to me it was, and at times it was, but the final decision is up to you, you decide, I 'll just give you a little advice: don't get it. | 1 | neutral | [
"Defenately not the best Mortal Kombat game.",
"Although not pityfully awful like stated in other reviews, the game isn't extremely fun.",
"I spent hours tring to beat the game, and when I finally did I was very diapointed.",
"The graphics weren't bad, at least not too much.",
"The story of the game (isn't great either).",
"But, it's the link that shows what went on between the Shao Kahn tournaments and Mortal Kombat 4.",
"However, the game plot also contradicts few things to the typical Mortal Kombat legacy.",
"For example, aren't the four elemental gods supposed to be good?",
"Then why are they on the bad guy's side?",
"So in the end, the game is somewhat fun, and long lasting, but is it really worth your money, to me it was, and at times it was, but the final decision is up to you, you decide, I 'll just give you a little advice: don't get it."
] |
Roy Moore : America was great in era of slavery is now âfocus of evil in the worldâ
Roy Moore 's spokeswoman Janet Porter got into tense exchanges with CNN's Anderson Cooper and Poppy Harlow. (Amber Ferguson/The Washington Post)
Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore holds a slight lead in next Tuesdayâs election in the deep-red state of Alabama. Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) won reelection in the state last year by nearly 30 points; Moore leads in an average of recent polls by a little more than 2.
Itâs certainly the case that the closeness of the race is a function of the accusations that have been leveled against Moore over the past month. A month ago Saturday The Post revealed that Moore had pursued several high-school-age women while he was in his 30s and serving in the district attorneyâs office in Etowah County during the late 1970s. Whatâs more one woman Leigh Corfman told of being approached by Moore when she was only 14 and described him sexually touching her . After that report several other women came forward with stories about Moore approaching them as teenagers or in one case attempting a sexual assault.
Those allegations have dominated the conversation around Moore since â obscuring another aspect to the race. Even before those allegations Moore was underperforming against Democrat Doug Jones. During his 2012 election as chief justice of the stateâs Supreme Court he won by only 3.5 points during an election that saw Mitt Romney beat President Barack Obama by more than 20 â likely a function of his having been ousted from the same position several years before for ignoring a court order. (He would go on to be removed from the bench again after winning in 2012 again for failing to uphold federal law.)
Beyond that though Moore has a long track record of saying controversial or offensive things many of which have resurfaced recently as he seeks the highest office of his political career.
In 1997 as a circuit court judge Moore spoke out against evolution â and linked it to crime. CNNâs KFILE team uncovered the video.
Wanted to share a video of Roy Moore in 1997 arguing that kids commit drive-by shooting because they are taught evolution in school: "They're acting like animals because we've taught them they come from animals." pic.twitter.com/YoHZXKfpAl â Christopher Massie (@chrismassie) December 7 2017
âWe have kids driving by shooting each other that they donât even know each other â Moore said. âTheyâre acting like animals because weâve taught them they come from animals. Theyâre treating their fellow men with prejudice because we taught them they come from animals.â
In 2005 Moore was interviewed by journalist Bill Press. During that interview he argued that homosexuality should be illegal.
âHomosexual conduct should be illegal yes â he told Press when asked about his views on a contemporaneous Supreme Court decision. At the time nearly half the country agreed; his campaign has not clarified whether he still holds this position.
In 2006 writing for the conservative site WorldNetDaily he argued that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be allowed to serve in the House because he is Muslim and would be sworn in on the Koran.
âIn 1943 we would never have allowed a member of Congress to take their oath on âMein Kampf â or someone in the 1950s to swear allegiance to the âCommunist Manifesto 'â Moore wrote. âCongress has the authority and should act to prohibit Ellison from taking the congressional oath today!â Asked about this article in October Moore appeared to stand by it.
A year ago after Donald Trumpâs election Moore was asked at an event whether he believed that Obama was born in the United States.
âMy personal belief is that he wasnât â Moore replied âbut thatâs probably over and done in a few days unless we get something else to come along.â
In August of this year Moore was interviewed by the Guardian. CNN excerpted part of the discussion.
Video: Roy Moore : Putin may be right America is the focus of modern evil in the world. pic.twitter.com/fOUZfygEgm â The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) December 8 2017 | 1 | neutral | [
"Roy Moore : America was great in era of slavery is now âfocus of evil in the worldâ\nRoy Moore 's spokeswoman Janet Porter got into tense exchanges with CNN's Anderson Cooper and Poppy Harlow.",
"(Amber Ferguson/The Washington Post)\n Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore holds a slight lead in next Tuesdayâs election in the deep-red state of Alabama.",
"Sen.",
"Richard C.",
"Shelby (R-Ala.",
") won reelection in the state last year by nearly 30 points; Moore leads in an average of recent polls by a little more than 2.",
"Itâs certainly the case that the closeness of the race is a function of the accusations that have been leveled against Moore over the past month.",
"A month ago Saturday The Post revealed that Moore had pursued several high-school-age women while he was in his 30s and serving in the district attorneyâs office in Etowah County during the late 1970s.",
"Whatâs more one woman Leigh Corfman told of being approached by Moore when she was only 14 and described him sexually touching her.",
"After that report several other women came forward with stories about Moore approaching them as teenagers or in one case attempting a sexual assault.",
"Those allegations have dominated the conversation around Moore since â obscuring another aspect to the race.",
"Even before those allegations Moore was underperforming against Democrat Doug Jones.",
"During his 2012 election as chief justice of the stateâs Supreme Court he won by only 3.",
"5 points during an election that saw Mitt Romney beat President Barack Obama by more than 20 â likely a function of his having been ousted from the same position several years before for ignoring a court order.",
"(He would go on to be removed from the bench again after winning in 2012 again for failing to uphold federal law.",
")\nBeyond that though Moore has a long track record of saying controversial or offensive things many of which have resurfaced recently as he seeks the highest office of his political career.",
"In 1997 as a circuit court judge Moore spoke out against evolution â and linked it to crime.",
"CNNâs KFILE team uncovered the video.",
"Wanted to share a video of Roy Moore in 1997 arguing that kids commit drive-by shooting because they are taught evolution in school: \"They're acting like animals because we've taught them they come from animals.",
"\" pic.",
"twitter.",
"com/YoHZXKfpAl â Christopher Massie (@chrismassie) December 7 2017\nâWe have kids driving by shooting each other that they donât even know each other â Moore said.",
"âTheyâre acting like animals because weâve taught them they come from animals.",
"Theyâre treating their fellow men with prejudice because we taught them they come from animals.",
"â\nIn 2005 Moore was interviewed by journalist Bill Press.",
"During that interview he argued that homosexuality should be illegal.",
"âHomosexual conduct should be illegal yes â he told Press when asked about his views on a contemporaneous Supreme Court decision.",
"At the time nearly half the country agreed; his campaign has not clarified whether he still holds this position.",
"In 2006 writing for the conservative site WorldNetDaily he argued that Rep.",
"Keith Ellison (D-Minn.",
") should not be allowed to serve in the House because he is Muslim and would be sworn in on the Koran.",
"âIn 1943 we would never have allowed a member of Congress to take their oath on âMein Kampf â or someone in the 1950s to swear allegiance to the âCommunist Manifesto 'â Moore wrote.",
"âCongress has the authority and should act to prohibit Ellison from taking the congressional oath today!",
"â Asked about this article in October Moore appeared to stand by it.",
"A year ago after Donald Trumpâs election Moore was asked at an event whether he believed that Obama was born in the United States.",
"âMy personal belief is that he wasnât â Moore replied âbut thatâs probably over and done in a few days unless we get something else to come along.",
"â\nIn August of this year Moore was interviewed by the Guardian.",
"CNN excerpted part of the discussion.",
"Video: Roy Moore : Putin may be right America is the focus of modern evil in the world.",
"pic.",
"twitter.",
"com/fOUZfygEgm â The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) December 8 2017"
] |
The GameCube is a fine console, but there aren't enough titles to make it really worth owning. The only worthwhile titles for GameCube that you can't get for the other consoles are the Mario games, the Zelda games, and Pikmin.
Well, the Mario games so far for GameCube ("Luigi's Mansion," "Super Mario Sunshine," "Mario Party 4," "Mario Party 5" and "Mario Kart Double Dash") don't add much to the franchise, truthfully. The Party games have more minigames, but they still get old quickly. "Double Dash" adds nothing of real use -- you could always drive and throw things at the same time; who really cares that now it's separate characters doing the two things? And "Sunshine" is one of the most overrated games ever.
The lone Zelda title for GameCube ("The Wind Waker") was an OK entry in that series, but nowhere near as good as its best ("A Link to the Past," for SNES, and "Ocarina of Time," for N64).
"Pikmin" is a really innovative, cute and entertaining (if frustrating) game. But worth buying a console for? Not really.
Practically all of the other worthwhile games for GameCube are also available for XBox and PS2 ("SSX Tricky," "SSX 3," the Simpsons games, "Gauntlet: Dark Legacy," "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance," etc.) In addition, there are *lots* of games worth playing that are not available on Nintendo, like the Grand Theft Auto games (and many other adult-skewing titles).
This was the first of the new consoles that I bought. I wish I had gone with a PS2 (which I eventually bought anyway). The siren song of Zelda lured me to Nintendo, but in the end, unless you're buying the system for a young child, you're better off with PS2 or XBox. | 1 | neutral | [
"The GameCube is a fine console, but there aren't enough titles to make it really worth owning.",
"The only worthwhile titles for GameCube that you can't get for the other consoles are the Mario games, the Zelda games, and Pikmin.",
"Well, the Mario games so far for GameCube (\"Luigi's Mansion,\" \"Super Mario Sunshine,\" \"Mario Party 4,\" \"Mario Party 5\" and \"Mario Kart Double Dash\") don't add much to the franchise, truthfully.",
"The Party games have more minigames, but they still get old quickly.",
"\"Double Dash\" adds nothing of real use -- you could always drive and throw things at the same time; who really cares that now it's separate characters doing the two things?",
"And \"Sunshine\" is one of the most overrated games ever.",
"The lone Zelda title for GameCube (\"The Wind Waker\") was an OK entry in that series, but nowhere near as good as its best (\"A Link to the Past,\" for SNES, and \"Ocarina of Time,\" for N64).",
"\"Pikmin\" is a really innovative, cute and entertaining (if frustrating) game.",
"But worth buying a console for?",
"Not really.",
"Practically all of the other worthwhile games for GameCube are also available for XBox and PS2 (\"SSX Tricky,\" \"SSX 3,\" the Simpsons games, \"Gauntlet: Dark Legacy,\" \"Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance,\" etc.",
") In addition, there are *lots* of games worth playing that are not available on Nintendo, like the Grand Theft Auto games (and many other adult-skewing titles).",
"This was the first of the new consoles that I bought.",
"I wish I had gone with a PS2 (which I eventually bought anyway).",
"The siren song of Zelda lured me to Nintendo, but in the end, unless you're buying the system for a young child, you're better off with PS2 or XBox."
] |
Well, well... This was the first F-Zero game ever. Unfortunately, I didn't like this one very much, so I didn't play the other ones (F-Zero GX, F-Zero X...). Why didn't I like this game? Well, it's a pretty simple game.
Graphics aren't good, the background is terrible. The race itself it's not funny, so it's not fun like in Super Mario Kart. The game, I believe, was a very fast racing game when it was released. But now, with the release of its sequel F-Zero GX for GCN, it doesn't look like you're riding a fast veichle, but looks like you're riding a turtle, because it gets really slow. There are some cars to choose, some racing circuits... The soundtrack is cool, but I prefer Super Mario Kart's too. Since it has no multiplayer mode, sooner or later you'll get sad of this game. Buy Super Mario Kart instead, if you want a good racing game for your SNES. | 1 | neutral | [
"Well, well...",
"This was the first F-Zero game ever.",
"Unfortunately, I didn't like this one very much, so I didn't play the other ones (F-Zero GX, F-Zero X...",
").",
"Why didn't I like this game?",
"Well, it's a pretty simple game.",
"Graphics aren't good, the background is terrible.",
"The race itself it's not funny, so it's not fun like in Super Mario Kart.",
"The game, I believe, was a very fast racing game when it was released.",
"But now, with the release of its sequel F-Zero GX for GCN, it doesn't look like you're riding a fast veichle, but looks like you're riding a turtle, because it gets really slow.",
"There are some cars to choose, some racing circuits...",
"The soundtrack is cool, but I prefer Super Mario Kart's too.",
"Since it has no multiplayer mode, sooner or later you'll get sad of this game.",
"Buy Super Mario Kart instead, if you want a good racing game for your SNES."
] |
Kaylee Cavanaugh is a completely normal teenager - or at least she tells herself that she is. Yes, she has severe panic attacks that leave her screaming bloody murder... But that's all they are, right? Right? Yeah, when they happen she sometimes sees a strange grey mist that envelops some random person, and then Kaylee is 100% certain that they are going to die. But that's just delusion. It can't be true, can it?
But it's real enough to land her in the psych ward...
Pros:
The writing is pretty good! I found it pleasant and easy to read, and it drew me into the story quickly. The author is great at invoking an atmosphere, making you feel with her characters and stringing you along with suspense.
The heroine is a nice breather from the usual vampires/faeries/angels/demons etc - thumbs up for the author, it's not easy to find something that hasn't been done to death (pun intended) in YA fantasy by now! And despite her unusual trials and tribulations, Kaylee is a believable and likable teenage girl - with all the usual flaws and crushes and occasional bitchy sarcasm. (Hey, she's a teenager, cut her some slack!)
The scenes in the mental ward were disturbing, haunting, depressing, and I really felt horrible for poor Kaylee - but even more so for the mysterious girl who also seemed to have some supernatural gift. I would've liked to read more about her! (Maybe she'll be in one of the novels?)
I finished the whole thing in one go - it's short! - and then immediately went on to read the first "real" novel of the series, so yes, this prequel got me hooked! In retrospect, I appreciate this glimpse into Kaylee's darkest hour, it gives more depth to her character.
Contras:
This novella is more of a teaser. It's a good start and I heartily recommend it if you're planning to read the novels anyway, but it cannot stand on its own: it brings up a million questions and answers almost none of them. It feels like it's missing something to truly take the step from teaser or short story to novella. From some of the other reviews, it sounds like it was available for free for a while - and as a freebie to wet your appetite it makes perfect sense to me! But at the time I'm writing his, it costs $2.51, and that seems a bit too much for what it is.
There are a few minor errors, like people being empty-handed at the beginning of a scene and suddenly holding a purse at the end, or a girl sitting down and then falling from a standing position. They made me go "huh", but didn't really distract me from the story too much.
All in all, I enjoyed reading it a lot! | 1 | neutral | [
"Kaylee Cavanaugh is a completely normal teenager - or at least she tells herself that she is.",
"Yes, she has severe panic attacks that leave her screaming bloody murder...",
"But that's all they are, right?",
"Right?",
"Yeah, when they happen she sometimes sees a strange grey mist that envelops some random person, and then Kaylee is 100% certain that they are going to die.",
"But that's just delusion.",
"It can't be true, can it?",
"But it's real enough to land her in the psych ward...",
"Pros:\n\nThe writing is pretty good!",
"I found it pleasant and easy to read, and it drew me into the story quickly.",
"The author is great at invoking an atmosphere, making you feel with her characters and stringing you along with suspense.",
"The heroine is a nice breather from the usual vampires/faeries/angels/demons etc - thumbs up for the author, it's not easy to find something that hasn't been done to death (pun intended) in YA fantasy by now!",
"And despite her unusual trials and tribulations, Kaylee is a believable and likable teenage girl - with all the usual flaws and crushes and occasional bitchy sarcasm.",
"(Hey, she's a teenager, cut her some slack!",
")\n\nThe scenes in the mental ward were disturbing, haunting, depressing, and I really felt horrible for poor Kaylee - but even more so for the mysterious girl who also seemed to have some supernatural gift.",
"I would've liked to read more about her!",
"(Maybe she'll be in one of the novels?",
")\n\nI finished the whole thing in one go - it's short!",
"- and then immediately went on to read the first \"real\" novel of the series, so yes, this prequel got me hooked!",
"In retrospect, I appreciate this glimpse into Kaylee's darkest hour, it gives more depth to her character.",
"Contras:\n\nThis novella is more of a teaser.",
"It's a good start and I heartily recommend it if you're planning to read the novels anyway, but it cannot stand on its own: it brings up a million questions and answers almost none of them.",
"It feels like it's missing something to truly take the step from teaser or short story to novella.",
"From some of the other reviews, it sounds like it was available for free for a while - and as a freebie to wet your appetite it makes perfect sense to me!",
"But at the time I'm writing his, it costs $2.",
"51, and that seems a bit too much for what it is.",
"There are a few minor errors, like people being empty-handed at the beginning of a scene and suddenly holding a purse at the end, or a girl sitting down and then falling from a standing position.",
"They made me go \"huh\", but didn't really distract me from the story too much.",
"All in all, I enjoyed reading it a lot!"
] |
A Yes concert from the seventies. The Classic Yes line-up - Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, and White - performing in-the-round. It would seem like a can't miss concert any Yes fan would want to have for their DVD video library. However, neither the performance itself, or the video quality really do the band justice. Jon Anderson comes off best. He's in good voice with his signature style sounding exceptionally sincere and involved. Steve Howe is so often the creative propulsion that drives Yes to musical heights - as he showed on "Yessongs" - but here his playing -- though dynamic -- seems bereft of his usual musical inventiveness. Ditto for Rick Wakeman, whose performance here at times seem like self-parody. As for the musical numbers "Circus of Heaven," "The Ancient," and "Starship Trooper" come off the freshest. The video quality I found passable, but barely so, the sound quality leaves much to be desired. Had this DVD included any extras at all - concert stills, band member bios, band interviews - I'd rate it higher. But this is a bare bones effort that doesn't capture Yes at their best. Like many Yes fans, however, I'm adding one star out of nostalgia. Bottom line -- Die-hard Yes fans will likely find this concert DVD satisfactory, but nothing more, casual or new fans, however, should start elsewhere, say with "Yessongs," or "The House of Blues." | 1 | neutral | [
"A Yes concert from the seventies.",
"The Classic Yes line-up - Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, and White - performing in-the-round.",
"It would seem like a can't miss concert any Yes fan would want to have for their DVD video library.",
"However, neither the performance itself, or the video quality really do the band justice.",
"Jon Anderson comes off best.",
"He's in good voice with his signature style sounding exceptionally sincere and involved.",
"Steve Howe is so often the creative propulsion that drives Yes to musical heights - as he showed on \"Yessongs\" - but here his playing -- though dynamic -- seems bereft of his usual musical inventiveness.",
"Ditto for Rick Wakeman, whose performance here at times seem like self-parody.",
"As for the musical numbers \"Circus of Heaven,\" \"The Ancient,\" and \"Starship Trooper\" come off the freshest.",
"The video quality I found passable, but barely so, the sound quality leaves much to be desired.",
"Had this DVD included any extras at all - concert stills, band member bios, band interviews - I'd rate it higher.",
"But this is a bare bones effort that doesn't capture Yes at their best.",
"Like many Yes fans, however, I'm adding one star out of nostalgia.",
"Bottom line -- Die-hard Yes fans will likely find this concert DVD satisfactory, but nothing more, casual or new fans, however, should start elsewhere, say with \"Yessongs,\" or \"The House of Blues.",
"\""
] |
Review of 14 g tablets. Bought these for emergency fuel for backpacking. Did a test run at home (4400 ft elevation). They did not perform as I had hoped. They start easily with a lighter and burn very hot. However around eight or nine minutes the flame is down to just a small warming burn until it goes out around its 13 minute total burn time. Packaging says it will boil a pint of water in 8 minutes. I have a 1.5 pint pot that I filled nearly full. It did not come close to boiling in the 13 minutes. Another down side is it does put off a very strong chemical smell similar to fireworks. I can boil water in less time than that using leaves, sticks, and pine cones. Would definitely not rely on these as your only source of fuel but as a fire starter they would work well. Packaging was crushed. That's not Esbits fault because they shipped and were sold by Amazon. One final note they say non toxic on the front of package but say fatal if swallowed on the back. I'm thinking the odor is toxic! | 1 | neutral | [
"Review of 14 g tablets.",
"Bought these for emergency fuel for backpacking.",
"Did a test run at home (4400 ft elevation).",
"They did not perform as I had hoped.",
"They start easily with a lighter and burn very hot.",
"However around eight or nine minutes the flame is down to just a small warming burn until it goes out around its 13 minute total burn time.",
"Packaging says it will boil a pint of water in 8 minutes.",
"I have a 1.",
"5 pint pot that I filled nearly full.",
"It did not come close to boiling in the 13 minutes.",
"Another down side is it does put off a very strong chemical smell similar to fireworks.",
"I can boil water in less time than that using leaves, sticks, and pine cones.",
"Would definitely not rely on these as your only source of fuel but as a fire starter they would work well.",
"Packaging was crushed.",
"That's not Esbits fault because they shipped and were sold by Amazon.",
"One final note they say non toxic on the front of package but say fatal if swallowed on the back.",
"I'm thinking the odor is toxic!"
] |
I bought this bag for my Casio WK-3000 Professional Series 76 Key Digital Recording Studio Styled Keyboard, and it was about several inches away from zipping up. After about 5 minutes, I gave up, and returned it. I later had to settle for the 88-note version, which is obviously bigger than what I need, but at least it'll fit.
Pros:
- Not expensive compared to other cases I've seen (bought mine here for $36.99)
- Extremely light-weight
- Should protect against wind/rain.
- The customer service (my return transaction) from J&R Music and Computer World went pretty smoothly.
Cons:
- Misleading representation of product (i.e., it may NOT fit your keyboard because it is so tightly designed)
- It does not seem to protect against impact/drops.
Overall, I wish I didn't have to buy the bigger version of this for my keyboard, but at least I have what I need now. This is definitely an improvement from carrying my keyboard fully exposed. You don't want your hands to accidentally rip off your keys as you carry it, and you want to have some confidence when carrying it outside with the weather. | 1 | neutral | [
"I bought this bag for my Casio WK-3000 Professional Series 76 Key Digital Recording Studio Styled Keyboard, and it was about several inches away from zipping up.",
"After about 5 minutes, I gave up, and returned it.",
"I later had to settle for the 88-note version, which is obviously bigger than what I need, but at least it'll fit.",
"Pros:\n- Not expensive compared to other cases I've seen (bought mine here for $36.",
"99)\n- Extremely light-weight\n- Should protect against wind/rain.",
"- The customer service (my return transaction) from J&R Music and Computer World went pretty smoothly.",
"Cons:\n- Misleading representation of product (i.",
"e., it may NOT fit your keyboard because it is so tightly designed)\n- It does not seem to protect against impact/drops.",
"Overall, I wish I didn't have to buy the bigger version of this for my keyboard, but at least I have what I need now.",
"This is definitely an improvement from carrying my keyboard fully exposed.",
"You don't want your hands to accidentally rip off your keys as you carry it, and you want to have some confidence when carrying it outside with the weather."
] |
It's a mixed lot.
I would put this accessory very much in the contractor bin, and not the fine woodworking.
It's very good value while compared to more expensive plates, but the negative reviewers aren't joking when they comment on the rounded nature of the plate. I have a huge Bosch 3.25hp router hanging from mine, and it doesn't iron out that slightly domed top. This means if you want that flush with your table top, you have to set the edges lower, and that creates a lip around the whole plate, albeit a small one where wood can become snagged. It's not going to be a problem with larger pieces, but smaller pieces can be tricky.
I also found that the micro-adjustment screws are far too loose fitting and shake free with the running of the router. Once level, a drop of Elmer's or hot glue to temporarily fix them in place stops them shaking loose.
Considering the brass inserts they screw into are rather substantial, I've no idea why they used such cheap ill fitting plastic screws to accompany them.
It's cheap though, and machines easily to fit your router. You just need to be aware that it isn't going to be a seamless fit like the heavy duty flat aluminum plates, and so if good enough is okay with you, then you'll be okay with it.
I'm making mine work out for me, but I'm already looking to replace both the plate, and likely the extension table I set it in. A solid 3 stars. | 1 | neutral | [
"It's a mixed lot.",
"I would put this accessory very much in the contractor bin, and not the fine woodworking.",
"It's very good value while compared to more expensive plates, but the negative reviewers aren't joking when they comment on the rounded nature of the plate.",
"I have a huge Bosch 3.",
"25hp router hanging from mine, and it doesn't iron out that slightly domed top.",
"This means if you want that flush with your table top, you have to set the edges lower, and that creates a lip around the whole plate, albeit a small one where wood can become snagged.",
"It's not going to be a problem with larger pieces, but smaller pieces can be tricky.",
"I also found that the micro-adjustment screws are far too loose fitting and shake free with the running of the router.",
"Once level, a drop of Elmer's or hot glue to temporarily fix them in place stops them shaking loose.",
"Considering the brass inserts they screw into are rather substantial, I've no idea why they used such cheap ill fitting plastic screws to accompany them.",
"It's cheap though, and machines easily to fit your router.",
"You just need to be aware that it isn't going to be a seamless fit like the heavy duty flat aluminum plates, and so if good enough is okay with you, then you'll be okay with it.",
"I'm making mine work out for me, but I'm already looking to replace both the plate, and likely the extension table I set it in.",
"A solid 3 stars."
] |
I never - EVER - was a "folk music" fan. Too whiny, too wimpy...and then, 1975, I finally had a Lady Friend, my own age, instead of the "one-step-past-jailbait" girlfriends I'd so lovingly...well, "loved " in the past. "Between The Lines" was released in, I think, March that year, and, naturally, when I heard its "hit single," "At Seventeen," it almost literally curdled the skin on the back of my arm. "Between The Lines, NAH," I told my Lady Friend, "'scuse me, I believe I'll jus' hurry on back to 'Between The Buttons' by the Stones." "You just dislike love songs," Dearest told me, and I replied, "Well, YEAH, but 'Buttons' has "Let's Spend the Night Together.' Ain't THAT 'love'?" To make a long story short(er), Dearest had me..."get right," sit down, and listen to "Between The Lines" with her. It STILL made me shake with a rock and roller's apathy - ah, but that beautiful, that SUBLIME inital track, "When The Party's Over" - WOW. A simple, sincere "love song," infintely preferable to, say, "Mandy," "Sister Golden Hair," "Love Will Keep Us Together," or any of the rest of the tripe that passed for "music" that year (believe me, the stage was WELL SET set for the advent of the dreaded "disco" and its "naughty cousin," "punk.") It's now some thirty-six years later, and "folk" still makes me want to heave - but forget that. Back to "reality," after consuming some "brownies" and then driving to NYC, the Beacon Theater, to see Ms. Ian on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving that year - and then seeing/hearing her open her set with "Party" - the brownies kicked in, and...well, use your imagination. OK, fellow Rock and Rollers, this may be tantamount to sacrelige, sure: but "When The Party's Over" now rests in that special place in my heart along with "Gimme Shelter," "A Whiter Shade Of Pale," "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay," "In My Life," and (yup) "Once Bitten Twice Shy." Oh yeah, ALSO "Party" has been sung at (memory fails me here) at least two of my "weddings..." 3/31/12 Update: should I have remained "married" to the, uh, "latest one," our anniversary would've been 6/30. But I've just this week received a request to come play for a friend's wedding reception on 7/1. YEAH! The close proximity of those 2 dates will DEFINITELY "exorcise some of the residual demons" from THAT last little "mistake." And the reason I'm babbling that is I FULLY intend to perform "When The Party's Over" for my Buddy & his Bride! | 1 | neutral | [
"I never - EVER - was a \"folk music\" fan.",
"Too whiny, too wimpy...",
"and then, 1975, I finally had a Lady Friend, my own age, instead of the \"one-step-past-jailbait\" girlfriends I'd so lovingly...",
"well, \"loved \" in the past.",
"\"Between The Lines\" was released in, I think, March that year, and, naturally, when I heard its \"hit single,\" \"At Seventeen,\" it almost literally curdled the skin on the back of my arm.",
"\"Between The Lines, NAH,\" I told my Lady Friend, \"'scuse me, I believe I'll jus' hurry on back to 'Between The Buttons' by the Stones.",
"\" \"You just dislike love songs,\" Dearest told me, and I replied, \"Well, YEAH, but 'Buttons' has \"Let's Spend the Night Together.",
"' Ain't THAT 'love'?",
"\" To make a long story short(er), Dearest had me...",
"\"get right,\" sit down, and listen to \"Between The Lines\" with her.",
"It STILL made me shake with a rock and roller's apathy - ah, but that beautiful, that SUBLIME inital track, \"When The Party's Over\" - WOW.",
"A simple, sincere \"love song,\" infintely preferable to, say, \"Mandy,\" \"Sister Golden Hair,\" \"Love Will Keep Us Together,\" or any of the rest of the tripe that passed for \"music\" that year (believe me, the stage was WELL SET set for the advent of the dreaded \"disco\" and its \"naughty cousin,\" \"punk.",
"\") It's now some thirty-six years later, and \"folk\" still makes me want to heave - but forget that.",
"Back to \"reality,\" after consuming some \"brownies\" and then driving to NYC, the Beacon Theater, to see Ms.",
"Ian on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving that year - and then seeing/hearing her open her set with \"Party\" - the brownies kicked in, and...",
"well, use your imagination.",
"OK, fellow Rock and Rollers, this may be tantamount to sacrelige, sure: but \"When The Party's Over\" now rests in that special place in my heart along with \"Gimme Shelter,\" \"A Whiter Shade Of Pale,\" \"Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay,\" \"In My Life,\" and (yup) \"Once Bitten Twice Shy.",
"\" Oh yeah, ALSO \"Party\" has been sung at (memory fails me here) at least two of my \"weddings...",
"\" 3/31/12 Update: should I have remained \"married\" to the, uh, \"latest one,\" our anniversary would've been 6/30.",
"But I've just this week received a request to come play for a friend's wedding reception on 7/1.",
"YEAH!",
"The close proximity of those 2 dates will DEFINITELY \"exorcise some of the residual demons\" from THAT last little \"mistake.",
"\" And the reason I'm babbling that is I FULLY intend to perform \"When The Party's Over\" for my Buddy & his Bride!"
] |
I found TOMCAT IN LOVE to be a mature, vivid, slightly humorous, unforgettable tale of lust, compulsion and disillusionment. Thomas H. Chippering is a professor of Linguistics, who describes himself as something over 49 years of age with the height and features of our 16th president. He has been very depressed about the break-up of his 20 year marriage to Lorna Sue, the woman that he has loved since he was 7 years old. He wants her back, but two things stand in his way, Lorna Sue's new husband and her brother Herbie. Of course, Thomas refuses to admit that his fondness for women, especially his younger students at the University of Minnesota, could make him at least partly responsible for the break-up of his marriage. Now he wants revenge, but before heading to Tampa where Lorna Sue is he heads for his hometown Owago, Minnesota to visit his boy hood home. While there a woman comes into his life, Mrs. Robert Kooshof who has experienced the same rejection Thomas has, so they deiced to help each other get revenge on Lorna Sue. From Minnesota to Tampa and back Thomas hatches evil plots for Lorna Sue. He flirts shamelessly with every woman he meets along the way. And after bouts of drunken rages and self-pitting moods he realizes what is really important to him and what makes life truly worth living.
Go along with Thomas on his quest for happiness. Be prepared for a surprise ending. | 1 | neutral | [
"I found TOMCAT IN LOVE to be a mature, vivid, slightly humorous, unforgettable tale of lust, compulsion and disillusionment.",
"Thomas H.",
"Chippering is a professor of Linguistics, who describes himself as something over 49 years of age with the height and features of our 16th president.",
"He has been very depressed about the break-up of his 20 year marriage to Lorna Sue, the woman that he has loved since he was 7 years old.",
"He wants her back, but two things stand in his way, Lorna Sue's new husband and her brother Herbie.",
"Of course, Thomas refuses to admit that his fondness for women, especially his younger students at the University of Minnesota, could make him at least partly responsible for the break-up of his marriage.",
"Now he wants revenge, but before heading to Tampa where Lorna Sue is he heads for his hometown Owago, Minnesota to visit his boy hood home.",
"While there a woman comes into his life, Mrs.",
"Robert Kooshof who has experienced the same rejection Thomas has, so they deiced to help each other get revenge on Lorna Sue.",
"From Minnesota to Tampa and back Thomas hatches evil plots for Lorna Sue.",
"He flirts shamelessly with every woman he meets along the way.",
"And after bouts of drunken rages and self-pitting moods he realizes what is really important to him and what makes life truly worth living.",
"Go along with Thomas on his quest for happiness.",
"Be prepared for a surprise ending."
] |
I wanted to give this a try to see if it would work on my oily skin.....it did not. I'm a guy, i've always had oily skin so i don't have wrinkles just constant oily looking skin. When i'm not able to wash my face, i thought that using this spray would help but again it didn't.
However, It has a very fine mist, its cooling and refreshing. This will be great for the summer when you are at the beach and after. I've used it for a few days now and using it as a toner before bed and also for a quick refresh during my day. I can feel the salt and toner sting for about a minute after using, its less than many other toners i've used.
The sprayer is easy to press and again its a fine mist that coats your face evenly. It does get on your chest area too as the mist is wide. Not sure if it would stain or leave a mark on clothing, haven't worn anything light colored that would show anything.
Fragrance free, its basically salt water so there's really nothing in it other than the 3 ingredients of water salt and sink (not the scientific words but the general plain english). Don't think i'd purchase this in the future as i didn't see the results i hoped for. | 1 | neutral | [
"I wanted to give this a try to see if it would work on my oily skin....",
".",
"it did not.",
"I'm a guy, i've always had oily skin so i don't have wrinkles just constant oily looking skin.",
"When i'm not able to wash my face, i thought that using this spray would help but again it didn't.",
"However, It has a very fine mist, its cooling and refreshing.",
"This will be great for the summer when you are at the beach and after.",
"I've used it for a few days now and using it as a toner before bed and also for a quick refresh during my day.",
"I can feel the salt and toner sting for about a minute after using, its less than many other toners i've used.",
"The sprayer is easy to press and again its a fine mist that coats your face evenly.",
"It does get on your chest area too as the mist is wide.",
"Not sure if it would stain or leave a mark on clothing, haven't worn anything light colored that would show anything.",
"Fragrance free, its basically salt water so there's really nothing in it other than the 3 ingredients of water salt and sink (not the scientific words but the general plain english).",
"Don't think i'd purchase this in the future as i didn't see the results i hoped for."
] |
PROS: Fluid and natural movement compared to ARMA II. The campaign actually works very well in co-op mode. Very good system of using laser range finders to accurately adjust for realistic bullet drop. For example if a target is 600 meters away in the laser range finders, you will hit with first shot if you adjust your aim correctly. The night vision devices and the infra-red laser designators work well. Nice effects of dirt on the screen when bullets land close, along with the screen shaking on explosions. Simple system of effective tactics, like smoke screens to fall back or suppression of a target. MISSION EDITOR INCLUDED!!
CONS: Very bad system to manually select ammo or weapon types (HE vs HEDP). Lack of actually vehicle use and weapon diversity in the game. Single player campaign vary between realistic missions to simply stupid and almost comical. Although there are several vehicles and many weapons load outs in the game, you don't actually use them in the campaign. Poor menu system and multiplayer server browser. Really bad menu music, it sounds like some Asian man with a full cleft palate trying to pass a cinder-block during a bowel movement. Invite system doesn't work in password protected servers. Lack of dedicated server support. No anti-cheat system implemented and unbalanced multiplayer system.
OVERALL: Not an Operation Flashpoint sequel, but an entirely different game. Many of the things someone might have loved in OFP 1 are not in OFP 2. This doesn't not make OFP:DR a bad game, but more like a false advertisement. Overall I have enjoyed the game because it was a semi-realistic simulator on some aspects, and it was easy to learn to play. What keeps me from loving this game is seemingly short campaign, poor mission design, and the lack of "epic-ness" found in the original Operation Flashpoint, and ARMA II. | 1 | neutral | [
"PROS: Fluid and natural movement compared to ARMA II.",
"The campaign actually works very well in co-op mode.",
"Very good system of using laser range finders to accurately adjust for realistic bullet drop.",
"For example if a target is 600 meters away in the laser range finders, you will hit with first shot if you adjust your aim correctly.",
"The night vision devices and the infra-red laser designators work well.",
"Nice effects of dirt on the screen when bullets land close, along with the screen shaking on explosions.",
"Simple system of effective tactics, like smoke screens to fall back or suppression of a target.",
"MISSION EDITOR INCLUDED!!",
"CONS: Very bad system to manually select ammo or weapon types (HE vs HEDP).",
"Lack of actually vehicle use and weapon diversity in the game.",
"Single player campaign vary between realistic missions to simply stupid and almost comical.",
"Although there are several vehicles and many weapons load outs in the game, you don't actually use them in the campaign.",
"Poor menu system and multiplayer server browser.",
"Really bad menu music, it sounds like some Asian man with a full cleft palate trying to pass a cinder-block during a bowel movement.",
"Invite system doesn't work in password protected servers.",
"Lack of dedicated server support.",
"No anti-cheat system implemented and unbalanced multiplayer system.",
"OVERALL: Not an Operation Flashpoint sequel, but an entirely different game.",
"Many of the things someone might have loved in OFP 1 are not in OFP 2.",
"This doesn't not make OFP:DR a bad game, but more like a false advertisement.",
"Overall I have enjoyed the game because it was a semi-realistic simulator on some aspects, and it was easy to learn to play.",
"What keeps me from loving this game is seemingly short campaign, poor mission design, and the lack of \"epic-ness\" found in the original Operation Flashpoint, and ARMA II."
] |
I have a bear of a time finding shoes in my size, and often end up either rounding up to a 5/5.5 in women's or resign myself to the children's section. I went to many shoe stores trying to buy these in the normal women's sizes, however I was unable to find anything that fit. A friendly sales associate suggested that I purchase them in children's sizes. I initially attempted to wear a size four in boys, in which my foot flopped around freely and was no good at all. I couldn't find these in smaller sizes in stores, likely due to the time of year, so I went on a leap of faith and bought the children's 3.5. Upon initially wearing them my toes went numb and I ended up getting cuts in the backs of my heels from them pressing in. All indicators of the boots being too small, no? Or perhaps excessive wear with out proper socks? The cuts turned up after spending an hour doing house keeping trying to break them in. The toe numbness was while I was driving my car to the market, about five minutes away.
Fast forward to a week later, they magically fit perfectly. No numbness, no cutting into my heals, and they are quite comfortable. I have an active lifestyle and live in the rainy rainy state of Washington, and they have not allowed my feet to get wet once. Bottom line, if you are an adult that can handle the 'break-in' period, go for it. I would never EVER subject a child to these shoes. | 1 | neutral | [
"I have a bear of a time finding shoes in my size, and often end up either rounding up to a 5/5.",
"5 in women's or resign myself to the children's section.",
"I went to many shoe stores trying to buy these in the normal women's sizes, however I was unable to find anything that fit.",
"A friendly sales associate suggested that I purchase them in children's sizes.",
"I initially attempted to wear a size four in boys, in which my foot flopped around freely and was no good at all.",
"I couldn't find these in smaller sizes in stores, likely due to the time of year, so I went on a leap of faith and bought the children's 3.",
"5. Upon initially wearing them my toes went numb and I ended up getting cuts in the backs of my heels from them pressing in.",
"All indicators of the boots being too small, no?",
"Or perhaps excessive wear with out proper socks?",
"The cuts turned up after spending an hour doing house keeping trying to break them in.",
"The toe numbness was while I was driving my car to the market, about five minutes away.",
"Fast forward to a week later, they magically fit perfectly.",
"No numbness, no cutting into my heals, and they are quite comfortable.",
"I have an active lifestyle and live in the rainy rainy state of Washington, and they have not allowed my feet to get wet once.",
"Bottom line, if you are an adult that can handle the 'break-in' period, go for it.",
"I would never EVER subject a child to these shoes."
] |
It gets your knives sharp with little effort, but not super sharp.
There is a review on here from a person who takes knife sharpening seriously. This individual talks about how to get knives razor sharp and indicates that this device does *not* get knives razor sharp. This person is correct.
It doesn't get your knives razor sharp. The sharpness doesn't even approach razor sharpness.
But it is a helpful tool, especially if you don't know how to or don't want to get your knives sharp using a whetstone or similar method.
I use it. I am glad I own it. But I really wish it would get my knives sharper than it does.
For the cost, it's a value. But does it make your knives anything near razor sharp? No. It doesn't. | 1 | neutral | [
"It gets your knives sharp with little effort, but not super sharp.",
"There is a review on here from a person who takes knife sharpening seriously.",
"This individual talks about how to get knives razor sharp and indicates that this device does *not* get knives razor sharp.",
"This person is correct.",
"It doesn't get your knives razor sharp.",
"The sharpness doesn't even approach razor sharpness.",
"But it is a helpful tool, especially if you don't know how to or don't want to get your knives sharp using a whetstone or similar method.",
"I use it.",
"I am glad I own it.",
"But I really wish it would get my knives sharper than it does.",
"For the cost, it's a value.",
"But does it make your knives anything near razor sharp?",
"No.",
"It doesn't."
] |
"The Bookshop" is set in the Suffolk seaside town of Hardborough, ostensibly fictitious but in fact clearly based upon Southwold where Penelope Fitzgerald herself once lived. The plot, which takes place in 1959/60, is a simple one. Florence Green, a middle-aged widow, purchases the Old House, a mediaeval building in the town, and converts it into a bookshop, the town's first. At first Florence's enterprise prospers, but she is finally thwarted by the malice of the town's most influential citizen, the wealthy Mrs Violet Gamart, who has taken a dislike to her and who has ambitions of her own to turn the Old House into an arts centre. (The real Southwold, in fact, has several bookshops and has always struck me as a rather literary and artistic place; it counts among its former residents not only Mrs Fitzgerald but also George Orwell).
One reviewer complained that this was "more of a vignette than a novel". There may be some truth in that observation, but I would think of it more in terms of a novella or long short story. I was reminded of some of Balzac's "Scenes de la Vie Provinciale". It is a book where atmosphere is more important than plot, and Mrs Fitzgerald excels at conjuring up the often melancholy atmosphere of coastal Suffolk (an area I know well). The town is damp, mist-shrouded and surrounded by marshes; she describes it as "an island between sea and river, muttering and drawing into itself as soon as it felt the cold". The Old House is ramshackle, leaky and haunted by a poltergeist, or "rapper" in the local dialect. Florence's main ally in her struggle with Mrs Gamart is Edmund Brundish, a member of a distinguished old Suffolk family. The Brundishes, however, have been supplanted as the leading family in the neighbourhood by the parvenu Gamart outsiders, and the elderly, shabby, reclusive Edmund lives alone in a crumbling manor house, the descriptions of which add to the general mood of decline and decay.
Like some other reviewers, I found the ending rather abrupt as Florence's hopes suddenly collapse in the space of a single chapter. Although Florence is the main character, she is not as vividly drawn as some of the others. I wished the author had paid more attention to the devious and obsessively spiteful Violet Gamart, clearly a much stronger character than her hapless victim Florence and more potentially interesting. Legal affairs play an important part in the book, but the author's knowledge of the law is not always certain. An "indictment", for example, is a document used in criminal proceedings, not civil ones which would be started by a writ or summons. I found it difficult to believe that a local authority would be able to acquire a property compulsorily without paying compensation; the acquiring authority would be obliged to pay the market value of the land, with allowance made for any defects. Seen as a piece of atmospheric writing, "The Bookshop" is a fine work. Seen as a piece of storytelling it is perhaps less accomplished. | 1 | neutral | [
"\"The Bookshop\" is set in the Suffolk seaside town of Hardborough, ostensibly fictitious but in fact clearly based upon Southwold where Penelope Fitzgerald herself once lived.",
"The plot, which takes place in 1959/60, is a simple one.",
"Florence Green, a middle-aged widow, purchases the Old House, a mediaeval building in the town, and converts it into a bookshop, the town's first.",
"At first Florence's enterprise prospers, but she is finally thwarted by the malice of the town's most influential citizen, the wealthy Mrs Violet Gamart, who has taken a dislike to her and who has ambitions of her own to turn the Old House into an arts centre.",
"(The real Southwold, in fact, has several bookshops and has always struck me as a rather literary and artistic place; it counts among its former residents not only Mrs Fitzgerald but also George Orwell).",
"One reviewer complained that this was \"more of a vignette than a novel\".",
"There may be some truth in that observation, but I would think of it more in terms of a novella or long short story.",
"I was reminded of some of Balzac's \"Scenes de la Vie Provinciale\".",
"It is a book where atmosphere is more important than plot, and Mrs Fitzgerald excels at conjuring up the often melancholy atmosphere of coastal Suffolk (an area I know well).",
"The town is damp, mist-shrouded and surrounded by marshes; she describes it as \"an island between sea and river, muttering and drawing into itself as soon as it felt the cold\".",
"The Old House is ramshackle, leaky and haunted by a poltergeist, or \"rapper\" in the local dialect.",
"Florence's main ally in her struggle with Mrs Gamart is Edmund Brundish, a member of a distinguished old Suffolk family.",
"The Brundishes, however, have been supplanted as the leading family in the neighbourhood by the parvenu Gamart outsiders, and the elderly, shabby, reclusive Edmund lives alone in a crumbling manor house, the descriptions of which add to the general mood of decline and decay.",
"Like some other reviewers, I found the ending rather abrupt as Florence's hopes suddenly collapse in the space of a single chapter.",
"Although Florence is the main character, she is not as vividly drawn as some of the others.",
"I wished the author had paid more attention to the devious and obsessively spiteful Violet Gamart, clearly a much stronger character than her hapless victim Florence and more potentially interesting.",
"Legal affairs play an important part in the book, but the author's knowledge of the law is not always certain.",
"An \"indictment\", for example, is a document used in criminal proceedings, not civil ones which would be started by a writ or summons.",
"I found it difficult to believe that a local authority would be able to acquire a property compulsorily without paying compensation; the acquiring authority would be obliged to pay the market value of the land, with allowance made for any defects.",
"Seen as a piece of atmospheric writing, \"The Bookshop\" is a fine work.",
"Seen as a piece of storytelling it is perhaps less accomplished."
] |
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